Secure property rights are considered a key determinant of economic development. However, the evaluation of the causal effects of land titling is a difficult task. The Brazilian government through a program called “Papel Passado†has issued titles, since 2004, to over 85,000 families and has the goal to reach 750,000. This paper examines the direct impact of securing a property title on the supply of work hours and income. In order to isolate the causal role of ownership security, this study uses a comparison between two close and very similar communities in the City of Osasco. The key point of this case is that some units get the program and others do not. One of them, Jardim Canaã, was fortunate to receive the titles in 2007, the other, Jardim DR, given fiscal constraints, only will be part of the program schedule in 2011, and for that reason became the control group. The estimates, generated using Difference-in-Difference econometric technique, suggest that titling results in a increase of adult labor supply and income for the families that received the title compared to the others. Such remarks can provide a relevant subsidize regarding future public tools to approach informality and affect economic growth.
