Ecuador constitutes a fascinating case study to explore land policies and reforms. Since colonial times, it has experienced prolonged and ongoing struggles to transform land institutions. This paper investigates how, across levels, historic institutional factors affected land-use decision making in the Mindo parish and western foothills of Pichincha, Ecuador, as perceived by its landowners. Following techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, we identify four main periods of institutional change related to land by relying on the narratives of landowners. These periods are: a) colonial institutions – hacienda feudal modes of production; b) the way toward an Agrarian Reform and Colonization Law; c) rural development after the Agrarian Reform; and d) forest conservation incentives versus ‘neo-extractivism’ practices. We reconstruct and explore these in light of the existing literature. Along with individual and collective perceptions, we are also concerned with the drivers underlying these institutional changes and the structure of these changes. Lastly, we discuss and provide conclusions on the key issues that help us explain institutional change in the study area, including theoretical explanations about cognitive variation (cultural-cognitive), power relationships, individual ability to change and perceive, as well as the system’s capacity to reorganize, persist, and reproduce.

厄瓜多尔是探索土地政策和改革的一个引人入胜的案例研究。自殖民时代以来，它经历了长期持续的土地制度改革斗争。本文调查了历史制度因素如何跨层次影响厄瓜多尔皮钦查的明多教区和西部山麓的土地使用决策，正如其土地所有者所认为的那样。遵循发展扎根理论的技术和程序，我们根据土地所有者的叙述确定了与土地相关的制度变迁的四个主要时期。这些时期是： a) 殖民制度——庄园封建生产方式；b) 通往土地改革和殖民法的道路；c) 土地改革后的农村发展；d) 森林保护激励措施与“新提取主义”做法的对比。我们根据现有文献对它们进行重构和探索。除了个人和集体的看法，我们还关注这些制度变化背后的驱动因素和这些变化的结构。最后，我们对有助于我们解释研究领域制度变迁的关键问题进行讨论并得出结论，包括对认知变异（文化认知）、权力关系、个体改变和感知能力以及系统能力的理论解释。重组、坚持和繁殖。