Determinantes da percepção da segurança da posse em assentamentos informais: uma abordagem institucional

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation was to identify the determinants of the perceived tenure security in the Nova Santa Marta Settlement, located in the city of Santa Maria-RS, considered one of the largest urban occupations in Latin America. We propose that the perception can be understood in terms (presence/absence) of variables linked to socio-environmental, economic and institutional factors. Based on the property rights theories of Coase, North and Williamson we have refined a scale of perceived security that can be empirically tested. After a systematic review of the literature to identify the state of the art on the subject, we used a structured household questionnaire with 979 participants from a representative sample of 7 informal settlements. We employed the technique of multinominal logistic regression with the objective of detecting the statistical relations between three concepts of the perceived tenure security. We found evidence of what we call institutional factors of perception. The estimated models show that the perceived security is associated with lower socioenvironmental and economic development indicators. However, we also found evidence to reveal that institutional factors impact on the indicator of the perceived tenure security in specific domains, through what we assume is a substitution effect. Informal settlements allow several poorer families to live at lower costs than is customary or officially acceptable and therefore spend more on other expenditures that improve their well-being. The distribution of property rights determines the size, distribution and impacts of these compensations and shapes the economic and social performance of informal settlements. The analytical structure present in the New Institutional Economy proved adequate in the discussion of the subject, revealing limitations on the applicability of property rights without considering issues related to the institutional conception of perceived tenure security.