The debate on the land–poverty nexus is inconclusive, with past research unable to identify the causal dynamics. We use a unique global panel dataset that links survey and census derived poverty data with measures of land ecosystems at the subnational level. Rainfall is used to overcome the endogeneity in the land–poverty relationship in an instrumental variable approach. This is the first global study using quasi-experimental methods to uncover the degree to which land improvements matter for poverty reduction. We draw three main conclusions. First, land improvements are important for poverty reduction in rural areas and particularly so for Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, land improvements are pro-poor: poorer areas see larger poverty alleviation effects due to improvements in land. Finally, irrigation plays a major role in breaking the link between bad weather and negative impacts on the poor through reduced vegetation growth and soil fertility.

中文翻译：

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土地与贫困：土壤肥力和植被质量在减贫中的作用

关于土地贫困关系的辩论尚无定论，过去的研究无法确定因果关系。我们使用独特的全球面板数据集，将调查和人口普查得出的贫困数据与地方一级的土地生态系统测量值联系起来。在工具变量方法中，降雨用于克服地贫关系的内生性。这是第一项使用准实验方法来揭示土地改良对减贫的重要性的全球研究。我们得出三个主要结论。首先，土地改良对于农村地区的减贫非常重要，对撒哈拉以南非洲地区尤其如此。二是土地改良有利于穷人：贫困地区因土地改良而脱贫效果更大。最后，