Reduce transaction costs? Yes. Strengthen property rights? Maybe: The First Nations Land Management Act and economic development on Canadian Indian reserves

Economic development on Canadian Indian reserves is hindered by the fact that aboriginal peoples living on these reserves lack efficient and effective property rights. In 1999, the federal government passed the First Nations Land Management Act, which allows participating First Nations to develop their own land codes for administering their reserve lands. After analyzing two First Nation land codes in Ontario and Saskatchewan, this paper finds that land codes are effective mechanisms for addressing drag on on-reserve development.