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Abstract
The cotton boom in Burkina Faso consisted of a growth in cotton land shares together with an overall increase in
total cultivated land. This paper examines the impact of institutional changes in the cotton sector on the
evolution of smallholders’ land-use decisions. The empirical analysis is supported by a structural model that
takes into account the specific institutional features of the Burkinabè cotton sector and builds upon household level
data collected in rural Burkina Faso. We attribute most of the change in land use to the newly established
institutional arrangements between producers and stakeholders, mechanization, and slackening of the food security
constraint.