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Revision with unchanged content. Rural poverty rates and land inequality in Paraguay are among the highest in Latin America. This book consists of three essays focusing on aspects of the economic development of the Paraguayan agricultural sector. The book seeks to answer the following questions in the rural Paraguayan context: What is the relationship between farm size and productivity? Would land redistribution have a positive impact on rural poverty? Why do rural Paraguayan households with female landowners have lower net farm income than those without female landowners, controlling for farm size? Are land markets an effective means of redistributing access to if not ownership of, land to the rural poor? The book is addressed towards those studying rural economies, land markets and gender, specifically economists, but will also be of interest to socio logists, political scientists, anthropologists and Paraguayanists of all stripes.

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is a research scholar at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College working primarily on the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) within the Distribution of Income and Wealth program. His specific research interests include the distribution of land, income, and wealth. Masterson received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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