Property rights, resource reallocation and welfare effects: Evidence from a land certification programme

Chengzheng Li, Huiru Xie, Zhiwen Huang and Qingen Gai

Land Use Policy, 2025, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: The paper finds that stronger property rights proxied by land certification reform result in resource reallocation and improve the welfare of rural households. Using the implementation of the land certification programme in China as a quasi-natural experiment, the study shows that households that obtained land certificates are 19 % more likely to rent out their agricultural land, 14 % more likely to allocate household workers to non-agricultural sectors and 13 % more likely to have migrant workers, which improves household income and consumption in rural China. In contrast, the study finds that the land reform did not affect household’s land renting-in, and the average cultivated area of rural households declines after the reform.

Keywords: Land certification; Resource reallocation; Welfare effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:154:y:2025:i:c:s0264837725000961

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2025.107562

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