Land Holding and Social Security in Rural China

Yaohui Zhao and Guanzhong James Wen
Additional contact information
Yaohui Zhao: China Center for Economic Research, Beijing University, Beijing, China
Guanzhong James Wen: Trinity College, Hartford, USA

Homo Oeconomicus, 1999, vol. 16, 157-176

Abstract: This paper analyzes shifts in means of old-age support in rural China and argues that the current rural institutions are failing in providing an adequate support for rural elderly. Bequest in the form of land was once a powerful leverage used by rural elderly to secure care from children. This leverage was destroyed by collectivization of land in the 1950s. The decentralization of production in the early 1980s succeeded in solving incentive problems associated with collective production, but the reform was incomplete because the collectives still retain land ownership. As the responsibility to provide elderly care was returned from the collectives to families, rural elderly have lost the benefit of collective welfare, but not regained the bargaining instrument of land bequest as compensation for care because the children turn to the collectives instead of the parents for land rights. The authors further examine alternative saving instruments for old age security and conclude that rates of return on these investments are too low. The analysis points to an urgent need for further reforming the rural land tenure system.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hom:homoec:v:16:y:1999:p:157-176

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Homo Oeconomicus from Institute of SocioEconomics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().