The Research Of Governmental Regulation On Urban Land

Regulation is the government's intervention act based on laws and market failure. Governmental regulation is not only practised in such industries as public utilities, communication and traffic, but land as well. With the evolution and development of the regulation theory, the study of regulations on land has also witnessed a process of gradual perfection.This dissertation, owing to the current conditions in China, mainly takes the urban land as the subject for research, since China has established the market of urban land while the market of rural land is still in a premature stage. With the establishment and continuous development of the urban land market, the land-use system has turned from gratis use to paid use, and the resources of urban land have been allocated more reasonably. During this process, however, there arise a lot of problems. The dissertation starts from how the government can solve these problems more effectively.The dissertation mainly discusses three major aspects, i.e. the causes for the government's regulations on urban land, the contents and means of the regulation, and the results of the regulation. The major causes for governmental regulation lie in market failure and the importance of urban land. The market failure of urban land manifests itself in the aspects of externalities, asymmetric information and social justice. Urban land, acting as the carrier of all kinds of activities in the urban area, plays a fairly important role in urban development and the growth of the entire national economy. The contents of governmental regulations on urban land include regulations on property rights, land use, and land exchange. The specific means of governmental regulations on urban land consist of land acquisition, land planning, land evaluation, land taxation and land laws, etc. The results of governmental regulations on urban land involves two sides, i.e. the positive effects on eliminating market failure of urban land, and some negative effects, such as the shortage of land supply and the rising prices of land. The market has its failure, and the government also has limitations. What to be done is not to choose one out of the two, but tobalance the faulty two.The theories and practices abroad concerning governmental regulations on urban land are relatively more mature. As for the land regulation in China, therefore, much can be learned through drawing on the experience in other countries and areas.It is not long since the establishment of the urban land market in China, and the methods of governmental regulations are not that perfect, with many problems existing in current policies. A study of these problems and the formulation of perfect solutions and countermeasures shall be of great theoretical and practical significance for the sound development of land market in China.The main ideas in the dissertation are as follows:Chapter one, Introduction, gives a brief survey of the research in this dissertation from seven aspects. The research background is introduced first, and some relevant concepts are defined. And then, a discussion is made of the scope and significance of this research, the present conditions of the research both at home and abroad, and the innovations and deficiencies in the dissertation. This chapter, offering an overall explanation, aims at introducing the research subject and prepares for theoretical explorations.Chapter two, Survey of Governmental Regulations on Urban Land, gives a brief discussion of the main scholarly views at home and abroad in terms of causes for, contents and results of governmental regulations on urban land.Chapter three, Causes for Governmental Regulations on Urban Land, discusses two aspects, the importance of urban land and the specific characteristics of the urban land market, and the market failure of the urban land, which is of more importance. According to these two aspects, this chapter is divided into two sections. The first section introduces the important roles of urban land and the specific characteristics of the urban land market; and the second section deals with the market failure of the urban land market, including the market monopolization, externalities, supply of public land, asymmetric information, and the unfair allocation of urban land.Chapter four, Contents and Means of Governmental Regulations on Urban Land, is made up of two sections. The first section involves the contents of the government's regulations on urban land, including the regulations on property rights, land use and exchange of urban land; and the second section deals with the means of the government's regulations on urban land, including land acquisition, land planning, land evaluation, land taxation, etc..In chapter five, Results of Governmental Regulation on Urban Land, the cost-benefit method is employed. The first section introduces the costs of governmental regulations on urban land, involving the costs paid by the government, by the interest groups, and the negative effects of regulation. The second section introduces the benefits of governmental regulations on urban land, which are reflected in economic growth, social development, nature and urban environment. The third section offers judgements of the results, and puts forward some countermeasures subject to the uncertain factors.Chapter six, Governmental Regulation on Urban Land in China, highlights the current conditions of and the existing problems in Chinese governments' regulations on urban land. Trie first section provides details of the contents of the Chinese governments' regulations on urban land, including the rules for property rights and use of urban land, regulations on land usage, regulations on land exchange. The second section introduces the means of Chinese governments' regulations on urban land. The third section analyzes the problems existing in the urban-land regulation in China, and lists out the problems existing in the corresponding contents and means of urban-land regulation.Chapter seven, Comparison and enlightenment of Governmental Regulation on Urban Land in Different Countries, believes it necessary to learn from the experiences in other countries and areas to find more effective way for governmental regulation on urban land in China. This chapter selects six countries or areas — U.S.A., U.K., Japan, Korea, HKSAR and Taiwan, and introduces respectively their experiences in urban land regulation, also, concludes six aspect of enlightenments to land regulation in China.Chapter eight, Measures of Governmental Regulation on Urban Land in China suggests some countermeasures based on the above analysis of the problems and the experiences in other countries and areas. The first section suggests the ways for Chinese governments to enrich and perfect the contents of urban-land regulation. The second section suggests the ways to perfect the means of urban-land regulation. The third section suggests to balance the market and the government regulation, further discusses the research purposes for governmental regulation on urban land, namely, with the establishment and growth of the urban land market, the awareness of market defects and regulation should be put on the government's agenda, and the government should learn to design different methods to eliminate these defects. During thisprocess, however, abuse of regulation shall be avoided, and the government should conduct effective regulations on urban land within the frameworks of law.The innovations of this dissertation may lie in: 1) putting forward the concept of governmental regulation on urban land in China, so as to emphasize that the government's intervention acts in a single market or enterprise under market economy, differs from the land management under planed economy and the macro-control over the general economy as well; 2) systematically introducing the theories of governmental regulation on urban land, summarizing the government's policies since the establishment of China's urban land market, and analyzing the problems existing; 3) raising the concept of effective governmental regulation, that is, the governmental regulation on urban land shall not only meet the aims settled, but also minimize the negative effects; 4) giving an overall analysis of the relationship between the land price and housing price, and concluding that the variation of market volume shall change the relationship between land price and housing price.