The Political Economy Of Land Tenure System Reform In China

The research on changes of land tenure system in China is a typical topic that explains China's economic issues using institutional economics theory.Institutional changes drive the development of economy. China's Reform initiated from rural areas, and more precisely from land tenure system. Since 1978 more than 20 years land tenure system reform has set up a basic institutional framework of collective ownership and household management, and then developed different pattern of land utilization system. The successful transformation of land tenure system has promoted the growth of agriculture and the whole national economy at a high speed It not only shows us a successful example that system changes drive economy development, but also highly contributes to institutional economics theory through many studies on its changes, process and performance in which the experiences could shed tight on transitional economies.The purpose of the political economy analysis on changes of land tenure system in China is to employ institutional economic theory to analyze and explain the causes, performance and process of institutional changes, uncover the phenomenon and the fundamental issues, and judge die direction and trend of future changes of land tenure system. On account of this consideration, my paper will firstly analyze the land tenure system under People's Communes and give an explanation on its inefficiency, and then discuss the emergence and establishment of household land contracted system after comparing different types of land ownership, and finally try to examine die innovation mechanism of land use system and its effective institutional arrangement of land use right transfer system, and put forward the direction and trend of changes in land tenure system in future from the perspective of the construction of land law and regulation. My paper tries to test the following four hypotheses: (1) Household Responsibility System (HRS) as a fundamental institution of agriculture and land management system is a rational institutional arrangement with lowest transaction cost and highest performance at the development stage; (2) Under the fundamental institutional framework of HRS, the emergence of various patterns of land use system as a derived institutional arrangement are rational choice of economic agents whatever the change process was used; (3) During the process of transformation and perfection of HRS, exogenous factors will change the preference structure of institutional arrangement, which indicates that HRS needs continuous innovation. (4) Institutional changes depend on continuous innovation behaviors, and the clarification of the prcperty right of beneficiaries and the integrity ofhousehold's land rights should be the major aspects for future institutional arrangementMy paper has seven chapters as follows:Chapter one is introduction, which mainly puts forward the problems that this paper will solve. They are: What theories can we use to explain historic facts of changes of land tenure system in China from institutional economics theory? What are the contribution and limitation of relevant literatures about political economic analysis on changes of land tenure system? What method will be used, what is the structure of the paper, what framework should be designed?Chapter Two is brief review, which objectively reflects the background of changes of land tenure system in China This part will make brief comments on land tenure system before rural reform, and reveal why institutional changes and innovation will happen through comparative analysis between land tenure systems before and after the foundation of People's Republic of China.Chapter Three is to describe different stages of changes of land tenure system. The main purpose is to explain the emergence and establishment of Household Responsibility System, and discuss the possibilities of long-term existence. At the same time it will analyze the special functions and roles of land policy in establishing institutional arrangement through the descrip...