A Harvard Academy conference, chaired by Tahirih V. Lee, associate professor, Florida State University College of Law, and former Harvard Academy Scholar. This conference seeks the views of the disciplines of political science, law, economics, history, anthropology, and sociology, using examples from the major regions of the world, on whether there is an optimal level of control over the use of land—that is, at the national or federal level, the subnational or local level. Each panel focuses the question more narrowly: whether standardization is good or bad for local autonomy or individual rights; and whether national programs that open up land control in certain areas to outsiders, thus creating local diversity, is good or bad for economic growth.The conference seeks to take advantage of the wealth of research being conducted on land and property rights in a variety of disciplines by members of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.