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Filling the Institutional Void in Rural Land Markets in Southern China: Is there Room for Spontaneous Change from Below?

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  • Ray Yep

Abstract

type="main"> Deng Xiaoping's market reforms have unleashed an irresistible drive towards urban expansion in China over the last three decades. Yet despite the relentless expansion of urban boundaries and the rapid growth of a property market in China, land transactions that involve the surrender of land leases by Chinese peasants are conducted in an unstable institutional setting. Increasingly, people are questioning the existing regulatory framework for rural land transactions, with the result that an institutional void is threatening to open up. This article focuses on one of the most important spontaneous efforts to fill this void in recent years: the Nanhai land-based shareholding cooperative experiment in southern China. This is a story of institutional change at the grassroots level. The article identifies the source of institutional entrepreneurship, evaluates the dynamics of the insider-driven process, and explains how and why the experiment is failing. An ineffective monitoring mechanism, growing conflict over the allocation of returns, a changing social landscape, and pecuniary temptation all play a role, while the ad hoc nature of the experiment also fails to instill the confidence and stability necessary for long-term investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ray Yep, 2015. "Filling the Institutional Void in Rural Land Markets in Southern China: Is there Room for Spontaneous Change from Below?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 534-561, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:46:y:2015:i:3:p:534-561
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12161
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barry Naughton, 2007. "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262640643, April.
    2. Hsing, You-tien, 2010. "The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199568048.
    3. Lanchih Po, 2008. "Redefining Rural Collectives in China: Land Conversion and the Emergence of Rural Shareholding Co-operatives," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(8), pages 1603-1623, July.
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    1. Wen, Lan-jiao & Butsic, Van & Stapp, Jared R. & Zhang, An-lu, 2020. "What happens to land price when a rural construction land market legally opens in China? A spatiotemporal analysis of Nanhai district from 2010 to 2015," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Siu Wai Wong & Bo-sin Tang & Jinlong Liu & Ming Liang & Winky K.O. Ho, 2021. "From “decentralization of governance†to “governance of decentralization†: Reassessing income inequality in periurban China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1473-1489, September.
    3. Jiao, Man & Xu, Hengzhou, 2022. "How do Collective Operating Construction Land (COCL) Transactions affect rural residents’ property income? Evidence from rural Deqing County, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    4. Meie Deng & Anlu Zhang & Congxi Cheng & Canwei Hu, 2022. "Are Villagers Willing to Enter the Rural Collective Construction Land Market under the Arrangement of Transaction Rules?—Evidence from Ezhou, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, March.
    5. Xie, Xiangxiang & Zhang, Anlu & Wen, Lanjiao & Bin, Peng, 2019. "How horizontal integration affects transaction costs of rural collective construction land market? An empirical analysis in Nanhai District, Guangdong Province, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 138-146.
    6. Axel WOLZ & Shemei ZHANG & Ya DING, 2020. "Agricultural production cooperatives and agricultural development: Is there a niche after all? Findings from an exploratory survey in China," CIRIEC Working Papers 2004, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    7. Wen, Lanjiao & Chatalova, Lioudmila & Zhang, Anlu, 2022. "Can China's unified construction land market mitigate urban land shortage? Evidence from Deqing and Nanhai, Eastern coastal China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Man Jiao & Hengzhou Xu, 2022. "Does Rural Construction Land Marketization Inhibit State-Owned Industrial Land Transactions? Evidence from Huzhou City, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, September.
    9. Zhou, Changchang & Chan, Roger C.K., 2022. "State-scalar politics of rural land reform in China: The case of Wujin district," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    10. Meie Deng & Anlu Zhang, 2020. "Effect of Transaction Rules on Enterprise Transaction Costs Based on Williamson Transaction Cost Theory in Nanhai, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    11. Liu, Ziming & Rommel, Jens & Feng, Shuyi, 2018. "Does It Pay to Participate in Decision-making? Survey Evidence on Land Co-management in Jiangsu Province, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 199-209.
    12. Oliveira, Gustavo Magalhães de & Miranda, Bruno Varella & Saes, Maria Sylvia Macchione & Martino, Gaetano, 2023. "Opening the “black box” of food safety policy implementation: The efficiency-enhancing role of a private meso-institution," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    13. Tan, Rong & Wang, Rongyu & Heerink, Nico, 2020. "Liberalizing rural-to-urban construction land transfers in China: Distribution effects," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).

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