Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development
Not a member yet
444 research outputs found
Sort by
Property, Information And Institutional Design
No full textFirst Nations\u27 emerging choices over their property institutions, however, are considerably more complex than perennial debates about private-individual versus communal rights would tend to suggest. [...]the information-based perspective suggests: (i) that First Nations should prioritize simple, bright line property rules that eschew the uncertainties of community-based interpretation and context; and (ii) that First Nations should work to harmonize their local property systems with a uniform set of norms familiar to Anglo-Canadian common law.2 My purpose in this Essay is to question these two basic prescriptions and offer some alternative ways of thinking about property, information, and institutional design. In Part II, I describe a second implication of the information-based approach - namely, the idea that communities should seek to reduce local variation in their property regimes. Because local divergence from widely used common law property norms is thought raise the costs of transactions across community boundaries, recent research suggests that there may be substantial incentives for communities to move toward harmonization or convergence, at least over the long run. For several reasons, investors will demand secure property - i.e., well defined and broadly agree upon norms with predictable and enforceable consequences.4 Using uncertain legal standards to delineate property rights appears to cut against this accepted logic by undermining real and perceived security and discouraging economic investment. [...]because uncer - tainty around property can effectively delegate important legal and political decisions to nonmajoritarian institutions and third-party decisionmakers from outside local communities, it seems that this strategy might also be unattractive from the perspective of strong, autonomous First Nations governance
Aboriginal Land Tenure Reforms In Canada: A Discussion of “Beyond the Indian Act”
No full textIn the words of Hernando De Soto, the co-chair with Madeline Albright of the UN Committee for Legal Empowerment of the Poor, "You don\u27t have to travel to Zambia or Peru to see dead capital. All you need to do is visit a reserve in Canada. First Nation people own assets, but not with the same instruments as other Canadians. They\u27re frozen into an Indian Act of the 1870s so they can\u27t easily trade their valuable resources.
Political Stability And The Well-Being Of First Nations In Saskatchewan: Implications for the Proposed First Nations Elections Act
No full textThis paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between the political stability of First Nations in Saskatchewan and a number of measures of social and economic well-being. Our results show that among First Nations in Saskatchewan the average term of elected leadership is 4.5 years. Simple descriptive statistics support the basic hypothesis that more stability, represented as less frequent changes in elected Chiefs, is associated with better socio-economic outcomes for First Nation communities. Our findings also show evidence that there are limits to how much more socio-economic gains can be achieved by increasing political stability of First Nation governments. At some point the positive contribution of greater stability to socio-economic outcomes decreases, such that it may eventually reduce, rather than improve positive socioeconomic outcomes. With this paper we hope to inform the current debate of the merits or risks associated with any future changes in First Nation elections and their resulting systems of governance
Off-Reserve Employment Options For On-Reserve First Nations In Canada
No full textAlternative land management options for First Nations are intended to improve their well-being through on-Reserve economic development. Another means by which First Nations are increasing their participation in the economy is through migration off Reserve, primarily urban centres. A third, to date neglected, means by which First Nations participate in the economy is through accessing off-Reserve employment while retaining Reserve residence. While positive urban agglomeration spillovers in the form of employment opportunities for rural populations are well established for the general population, this has not been investigated for Reserve populations. This paper examines the incidence and determinants of off-Reserve employment by Reserve residents in Canada. We find that along with distance, population growth rates and a higher percentage of the population over the age of 15, out-commuting rates from Reserves are influential in Community Well-Being Scores. Out-commuting is, in turn, facilitated by high school completion rates and negatively affected by distance. We conclude that improved access to off-Reserve employment for Reserve residents is an important means of improving the well-being of Reserve populations, and that a high school education is associated with off-Reserve employment
