Liberalizing key factor markets is a crucial step in the transition from a socialist control-economy to a market economy. However, the process can be stalled by imperfect information, high transaction costs and covert resistance from entrenched interests. The article studies agricultural land reallocation in the wake of Vietnam’s efforts to establish a free market in land-use rights following de-collectivization. Inefficiencies in the initial administrative allocation are measured against an explicit counterfactual. Land allocation responded positively but slowly to the initial inefficiencies. There is no sign that the transition favored the land rich or that it was thwarted by local officials
