Absentee tenants and farmland transfers in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Malawi

We use a unique dataset from Malawi that matches tenants and their landlord counterparts to document the role played by absentee tenants, i.e. who reside outside area where rented land is located. found non-local made up 22% of in our sample. A significant subset them had higher off-farm income significantly more assets than did other tenants. Conversely, we 76% landlords because they needed cash. Our results highlight fact some rental transactions reinforce power imbalances may exacerbate risks faced poorer landlords.