The farmland property rights deformity: the history, reality and reform
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the institutional evolution of China's farmland property rights deformity with its internal logic, analyze its property rights deformity and the invasions of these rights under the family operation background, and puts forward fundamental suggestions for reforming farmland property rights in China.
Design/methodology/approach
The concept of “public domain” raised by Barzel in 1989 is used and extended to analyze China's farmland system.
Findings
There exist five sorts of public domain and two apparent characteristics of property rights deformity: the unclear final controlling rights for some valuable attributes of goods of the “public domain”; and the “public domain” deliberately created by the government. The public domain caused by technical factors and owner's real capability are herein excluded.
Originality/value
China's past and present farmland system is a result of the government's compulsory system arrangements instead of market evolution. The expansion of public domains III and V has directly shrunk peasants' residual property rights. The concept of “public domain” is developed to reveal the essence of China's farmland property rights deformity.
Keywords
Citation
Luo, B. and Fu, B. (2009), "The farmland property rights deformity: the history, reality and reform", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 435-458. https://doi.org/10.1108/17561370910989266
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited