Transaction Costs of Allocating Increased Land Value Under Public Leasehold Systems: Hong Kong

Using Hong Kong as a case study, the paper explores the viability of four land-value-capture mechanisms available under public leasehold systems: initial land auctioning; contract modification; lease renewal; and, the collection of land rent. It is found that these mechanisms do not work equally well; instead, their viability depends largely on the context within which the contracting parties practise land leasing. By applying a modified transaction-costs framework to the case, it is shown that the transaction costs of allocating the land value at the initial land auction are the lowest among the four mechanisms. This explains why the Hong Kong government relies on public land auctions to capture land value. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this finding for Hong Kong and for countries where officials are experimenting with public leasehold systems.