The impact of property rights on households'investment, risk coping, and policy preferences : evidence from China
Even though it is widely recognized that giving farmers more secure land rights may increase agricultural investment, scholars contend that, in the case of China, such a policy might undermine the function of land as a social safety net and, as a consequence, not be sustainable or command broad support. Data from three provinces, one of which had adopted a policy to increase security of tenure in advance of the others, suggest that greater tenure security, especially if combined with transferability of land, had a positive impact on agricultural investment and, within the time frame considered, led neither to an increase in inequality of land distribution nor a reduction in households'ability to cope with exogenous shocks. Household support for more secure property rights is increased by their access to other insurance mechanisms, suggesting some role of land as a safety net. At the same time, past exposure to this type of land right has a much larger impact quantitatively, suggesting that a large part of the resistance to changed property rights arrangements disappears as household familiarity with such rights increases.
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| Date of creation: | 30 Nov 2002 |
| Handle: | RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:2931 |
| Contact details of provider: | Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433 Phone: (202) 477-1234 Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/ Email: More information through EDIRC
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References listed on IDEAS
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- Liu, Shouying & Carter, Michael R. & Yao, Yang, 1998.
"Dimensions and diversity of property rights in rural China: Dilemmas on the road to further reform,"
World Development,
Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 1789-1806, October.
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- Carter, Michael R. & Yang Yao, 1999. "Specialization without regret - transfer rights, agricultural productivity, and investment in an industrializing economy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2202, The World Bank.
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