Resource information
This paper is motivated by the emphasis
on secure property rights as a determinant of economic
development in recent literature. The authors use village
and household level information from about 800 villages
throughout China to explore whether legal reform increased
protection of land rights against unauthorized reallocation
or expropriation with below-average compensation by the
state. The analysis provides nation-wide evidence on a
sensitive topic. The authors find positive impacts,
equivalent to increasing land values by 30 percent, of
reform even in the short term. Reform originated in villages
where democratic election of leaders ensured a minimum level
of accountability, pointing toward complementarity between
good governance and legal reform. The paper explores the
implications for situations where individuals and groups
hold overlapping rights to land.
