Abstract: We examine the pattern of property rights demarcation in centralized and indiscriminate land survey systems and their economic effects.. The former results in a uniform grid of rectangular surveys (RS), whereas the latter results in haphazard localized bounding of properties, referred to as metes and bounds (MB). We develop an economic framework for examining land demarcation systems, focusing on a comparative analysis of RS and MB. The rectangular survey is likely to lead to more market transactions, fewer conflicts, greater property investment, higher land values, and more infrastructure than metes and bounds. Our empirical analysis focuses on a 22-county area of Ohio where MB is used relative to the remaining 66 counties that employ RS. Our data include parcel maps, U.S. census manuscripts, court opinions, and state reports on infrastructure, legal disputes, and productivity. The results indicate that topography influences parcel shape and size under a MB system; that parcel shapes are aligned under the RS; and that the RS is associated with higher land values, more roads, more land transactions, and fewer legal disputes than MB, all else equal. It may also be that the comparative limitations of MB contributed to the observed relative decline of that area relative to the rest of Ohio.

Download the paper