Trust and the Effectiveness of Land Use Policies: Perception, Attitude and Behaviour of Rural Residents in China

It has been found that political trust has a significant impact on rural residents’ participation in local governance, support to government policies, and contributions to public goods. The general consensus is that high political trust can improve the effectiveness of local governance by engaging individuals in the design and implementation of public policies. However, existing studies on the effectiveness of land use policies in China mainly focus on the dynamics between local and central governments. This approach inevitably overlooks the attitude and behaviour of rural residents. To bridge this gap in the literature, this project is set up to verify whether villagers’ trust in local governments influence the effectiveness of land use policies. I focus on the following four specific aspects of effectiveness of land use policy in China: 1) land tenure security, 2) land-related investment, 3) willingness to participate and corporate in land market reforms, and 4) land-related disputes and petitions. A large scale questionnaire survey will be conducted to interview rural residents about their perception, attitude and behaviour. Behavioral insights will be applied to analyze and interpret the findings. Results of this project will potentially improve our understanding of the role of social norms (such as political trust) in public policy domain. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide policy recommendations to promote sustainable urbanization and rural development in China through improving the effectiveness of land use policies.