ABSTRACT
As population continues to rise rapidly in most Third World countries and the pressure of man on the land becomes accentuated, land tenure and the possible desirability of land reform cannot help but remain on center stage. In assessing possible effects of land reform in Third World countries on the adequacy of world food production one must consider a number of interrelated phenomena. Interest in the effect of land reform on world food output stems from concern for the fulfillment of nutritional needs. The land share appears to fall when the level of wages increases and to rise when land productivity rises due to technological change, results consistent with economic theory. The expectation that land redistribution from large farms to small ones will lead to an increase in output, an expectation based on the land productivity advantages of small pre-reform farms over large ones, remains reasonable in many developing countries.
