Munseob Lee from UC San Diego will present "Land Reform, Human Capital Accumulation, and Structural Transformation"

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of land reform on human capital investment and sectoral labor allocation, focusing on South Korea’s 1950 land redistribution program. Despite the widespread adoption of such policies globally, evidence on their role in fostering human capital accumulation remains limited. We find a significant association between pre-reform land distribution patterns and post-reform educational and economic outcomes with the data. The overlapping generations model confirms that land reform facilitates structural transformation, particularly through stimulating human capital investment among poor households.