The Loss of Property Rights and the Collapse of Zimbabwe

What in the world happened to Zimbabwe? Although the country certainly had its share of difficulties during the first 25 years since independence in 1980, it largely dodged the famines, civil strife, and grossly mismanaged government policies so common in other subSaharan African countries. Through the 1980s, its annual real GDP growth averaged more than 5 percent, and, unlike other African countries, agricultural yields were large enough to allow the country to export grain. In the following decade, economic growth slowed, and government policies were less than efficient, but Zimbabwe still managed to grow an average of 4.3 percent, in real terms. The government also offered free education and relatively good access to medical care. Population growth was slowing, and foreign direct investment increasing. With rich mineral assets, an educated workforce, and beautiful natural wonders, Zimbabwe appeared to have the best chance to be an African success story. However, in 2000 through 2003, the Zimbabwean government initiated a land reform policy that involved forcibly taking over whiteowned commercial farms, ostensibly to redistribute this property to landless blacks. The rationale for this policy was to redress the British seizure of fertile farmland in the late 1890s, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of blacks being pushed onto lower grade communal lands. No compensation was paid to the commercial farmers, and hundreds of thousands of employed black farm workers were left without