29/10/2025 | 10:30 | Online

Tommaso Sonno

(University of Bologna and CEP-LSE)

will give a presentation on 

Large Scale Land Acquisitions: Trees, Trade, and Structural Change

Abstract: 

By 2022, large-scale land acquisitions, a key component of agricultural foreign direct investment, covered more than 4% of the world’s arable land. This paper examines their impact on agricultural production, environmental outcomes, and local communities. To identify these effects, we exploit an exogenous increase in palm oil land acquisitions driven by the Ebola epidemic in Liberia. We find a substantial increase in land dedicated to palm oil cultivation and increased imports of palm oil-specific inputs, suggesting a transition from traditional to industrial production. This is associated with a subsequent significant increase in palm oil exports. The expansion of this tradable industry generated modest positive effects on the local economy and spurred structural transformation: women transitioned from agriculture to service and sales jobs, while men shifted into manual labor positions. The expansion also entailed negative environmental consequences, including increased deforestation, air pollution, and forest fires.

with Davide Zufacchi (University College London and IFS)

The paper can be found here. 

How to attend the seminar? 

We invite graduate students and faculty with an interest in international trade to participate, and to sign up for our mailing list.

For further information on how to attend, you can contact: serena.chellini@kuleuven.be or c.depierpont@uclouvain.be