{"title":"Property rights and land quality","authors":"Haoyang Li, Jiong Zhu","doi":"10.1111/ajae.12440","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper presents a novel study examining the effect of a property rights law reform that legalized land transfers on land quality. Using unique Chinese county-level land erosion data, we show that formally legalizing land transfers significantly reduces land erosion. This is an important and surprising benefit of a secure land transfer right to the land resource itself and a positive biophysical spillover to the natural environment that is largely ignored in the existing literature and in the policy making process. We further demonstrate that the land quality improvement brought by the law reform was associated with an increase in farming investments that can improve land quality but are subject to economies of scale. Land concentration made such investments economically feasible. We also show that the land quality-improving benefits are unevenly distributed across regions with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Future land law reforms should consider both the potential efficiency and equality implications in terms of land quality.</p>","PeriodicalId":55537,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Agricultural Economics","volume":"106 5","pages":"1619-1647"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Agricultural Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajae.12440","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper presents a novel study examining the effect of a property rights law reform that legalized land transfers on land quality. Using unique Chinese county-level land erosion data, we show that formally legalizing land transfers significantly reduces land erosion. This is an important and surprising benefit of a secure land transfer right to the land resource itself and a positive biophysical spillover to the natural environment that is largely ignored in the existing literature and in the policy making process. We further demonstrate that the land quality improvement brought by the law reform was associated with an increase in farming investments that can improve land quality but are subject to economies of scale. Land concentration made such investments economically feasible. We also show that the land quality-improving benefits are unevenly distributed across regions with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Future land law reforms should consider both the potential efficiency and equality implications in terms of land quality.
期刊介绍:
The American Journal of Agricultural Economics provides a forum for creative and scholarly work on the economics of agriculture and food, natural resources and the environment, and rural and community development throughout the world. Papers should relate to one of these areas, should have a problem orientation, and should demonstrate originality and innovation in analysis, methods, or application. Analyses of problems pertinent to research, extension, and teaching are equally encouraged, as is interdisciplinary research with a significant economic component. Review articles that offer a comprehensive and insightful survey of a relevant subject, consistent with the scope of the Journal as discussed above, will also be considered. All articles published, regardless of their nature, will be held to the same set of scholarly standards.