Common Concerns Suspicion: A Worldwide Crisis of Trust
Mar 19, 2026
Xenia Cherkaev, a comparative ethnographer who steers the discussion, and Andrew Haxby, an anthropologist who studied Kathmandu’s land market after the 2015 earthquake. They explore suspicion around brokers, how remittances and rising land values turn family plots into investment bubbles, brokers’ opaque profit tactics, and the social and generational strains this creates.
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Mundane Land Sales Wrapped In Deep Suspicion
- Land sales in Kathmandu are mundane yet wrapped in deep suspicion because brokers mediate complex family and bureaucratic processes.
- Andrew Haxby found brokers framed as the gateway to a 30-year land price bubble fueled by remittances and migration.
Land Became An Asset Bubble That Never Pops
- Kathmandu's land prices rose far faster than incomes, creating an asset society where land is both family bond and financial asset.
- Haxby links this to remittances (≈30% of GDP) and migration after the Maoist war, producing an investment bubble that "never pops."
Brokers Double As Bureaucrats To Make Sales Possible
- Brokers act as both matchmakers and de facto bureaucrats who prepare fragmented family plots for sale.
- Haxby recounts developers hiring brokers to convince families, divide titles, and sort paperwork so transactions can proceed legally.