Stability of the Ricardian land value model: Chile during rapid economic growth

The Chilean experience with a clear political and structural economic break during the period 1980-2007 provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis of the stability of the Ricardian model s ability to characterize permanent relationships between land values and time-invariant factors, such as ago-ecological regions and climate. The article examines cross-section hedonic price function using rural land value data at the municipal level for four periods for which land transactions data are available, 1980, 1990, 1997 and 2007. Fundamental economic changes between 1980 and 1990 appear to have indeed altered the relationship between rural land values and their underlying determinants in the Ricardian model available for estimation. In particular, urban-related factors became more important, and, consistent with major changes in the composition of farm production, the relationship between climate and land value changed. Acknowledgement : Work on this paper was supported by CONICYT/Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cient fico y Tecnol gico (FONDECYT) of Chile, Project 1130540