In the context of increasing urbanisation, growth of informal settlements and the urbanisation of poverty, this article suggests a conceptual framework to link urban informal property markets and poverty alleviation. Using conceptual tools of the new institutional economics, principally theories of transaction costs and property rights, the framework describes theoretical conditions under which property markets may be a mechanism for capital accumulation for the urban poor. The article highlights knowledge gaps in the literature and argues that the institutional approach holds the most promise for analysing the interface between informal property markets and poverty alleviation.
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