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Abstract
Although land plays a crucially important role in economic development and structural
transformation, the causes and consequences of the evolution of farming land have only been
paid scant attention in recent decades. In this paper I document changes in the extent of global
farming land and in average farm sizes. I show that the spatial distribution of global farming land
has changed dramatically, with developed countries substantially reducing their share and landabundant
developing countries substantially increasing their share. In per capita terms we see a
rather different pattern, with average farm sizes increasing rich and more commercialized
agricultural systems, and generally declining or staying constant in poorer and less
commercialized systems. These outcomes are the result of complex processes that are not always
well understood. I conclude the paper by suggesting new, or neglected, areas of research that
would help us better understand these critically important developments.