Since 1938 there has been a policy of rent arbitration in the Netherlands. Rent arbitration appeared to be necessary through the price policy of agricultural products. The purpose was to divide agricultural income fairly between farmers and the landowners. The author argued that rent arbitration should also be treated as an instrument and not only a consequence of agricultural price policy. By giving guaranteed prices to the farmers the government influenced on the land rent, but the land rent resulting from arbitration should also influence the guaranteed prices for agricultural products.The thesis provides a detailed description and analysis of the methods of rent arbitration, and some suggestions for improving the methods. Rent arbitration had had an important influence: before rent arbitration came into force, total net rent was about 25 % of agricultural income, whereas it is now only 5 %. It was argued, however, that other influences were also at work; without rent arbitration that percentage could have decreased also.

Since 1938 there has been a policy of rent arbitration in the Netherlands. Rent arbitration appeared to be necessary through the price policy of agricultural products. The purpose was to divide agricultural income fairly between farmers and the landowners. The author argued that rent arbitration should also be treated as an instrument and not only a consequence of agricultural price policy. By giving guaranteed prices to the farmers the government influenced on the land rent, but the land rent resulting from arbitration should also influence the guaranteed prices for agricultural products.The thesis provides a detailed description and analysis of the methods of rent arbitration, and some suggestions for improving the methods. Rent arbitration had had an important influence: before rent arbitration came into force, total net rent was about 25 % of agricultural income, whereas it is now only 5 %. It was argued, however, that other influences were also at work; without rent arbitration that percentage could have decreased also.

After a survey of the development of the thinking in the Netherlands on the appraisal of agricultural lands, there is an analysis of the Ricardian view on the land rent. Ricardo's concept of rent proved to be tied to some specific suppositions. To him the size of population was endogenous. Mol placed the land rent in five different models, drawn up by him. In the first a legal fixation of the rent, which differed from the equilibrium rent, resulted in a deviation from the optimum size of the plant. An increase in prices of agricultural produce brought about a rise in land rent. In the second model, in which the supply of labour and of land was rigid, a firm relation existed between land rent and wages in agriculture. Price fixation of one of both production factors had no repercussions in the production sphere. In the third model the supply of land and of labour was rigid. Here the price of produce did not determine the land value. In the fourth model the supply of land was elastic and that of labour rigid, while in the fifth the opposite was true. In the fourth model an artificial increase in agricultural produce entirely benefited the labour. This was not so in the last model. Here the matter of marginal tenant was raised. Finally a number of applications of the principal of revenue value are reviewed.

After a survey of the development of the thinking in the Netherlands on the appraisal of agricultural lands, there is an analysis of the Ricardian view on the land rent. Ricardo's concept of rent proved to be tied to some specific suppositions. To him the size of population was endogenous. Mol placed the land rent in five different models, drawn up by him. In the first a legal fixation of the rent, which differed from the equilibrium rent, resulted in a deviation from the optimum size of the plant. An increase in prices of agricultural produce brought about a rise in land rent. In the second model, in which the supply of labour and of land was rigid, a firm relation existed between land rent and wages in agriculture. Price fixation of one of both production factors had no repercussions in the production sphere. In the third model the supply of land and of labour was rigid. Here the price of produce did not determine the land value. In the fourth model the supply of land was elastic and that of labour rigid, while in the fifth the opposite was true. In the fourth model an artificial increase in agricultural produce entirely benefited the labour. This was not so in the last model. Here the matter of marginal tenant was raised. Finally a number of applications of the principal of revenue value are reviewed.

Suggestions were made to improve the agricultural situation resulting from the Second World war. The former estate agriculture on the East Coast of Sumatra, established in 1865 by westerners in a sparsely populated and isolated area, occupied 1,000,000 ha in 1940 mainly under tobacco, rubber, oil palms and fibre- plants, but was replaced by foodstuffs during the Japanese occupation, as rice was no longer imported. The Bureau for Land Utilization, established in 1948 in Djakarta, tried to indicate the most efficient integrated use of the land by regional, social, economic and physical planning, in contrast to former incidental actions. An insight was gained into the scope of soil and climate, while some structural defects also came to light of which the chief were the pluralistic structure of society, the legal regulations on tenure, the one-sided production and the presence of cultivated areas as a foreign element, also in a physical sense. The one-sided production appeared from the export of raw materials from estate agriculture and import of manufactured goods and foodstuffs. The area grew only 50 % of its rice. The development plan must increase both individual prosperity and regional economic stability and promote the agricultural industries and service establishments.

Suggestions were made to improve the agricultural situation resulting from the Second World war. The former estate agriculture on the East Coast of Sumatra, established in 1865 by westerners in a sparsely populated and isolated area, occupied 1,000,000 ha in 1940 mainly under tobacco, rubber, oil palms and fibre- plants, but was replaced by foodstuffs during the Japanese occupation, as rice was no longer imported. The Bureau for Land Utilization, established in 1948 in Djakarta, tried to indicate the most efficient integrated use of the land by regional, social, economic and physical planning, in contrast to former incidental actions. An insight was gained into the scope of soil and climate, while some structural defects also came to light of which the chief were the pluralistic structure of society, the legal regulations on tenure, the one-sided production and the presence of cultivated areas as a foreign element, also in a physical sense. The one-sided production appeared from the export of raw materials from estate agriculture and import of manufactured goods and foodstuffs. The area grew only 50 % of its rice. The development plan must increase both individual prosperity and regional economic stability and promote the agricultural industries and service establishments.