Hazards of Expropriation: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Rural China
Abstract
We use household data from northeast China to examine the link between investment and land tenure insecurity induced by China's system of village-level land reallocation. We quantify expropriation risk using a hazard analysis of individual plot tenures and incorporate the predicted “hazards of expropriation” into an empirical analysis of plot-level investment. Our focus is on organic fertilizer use, which has long-lasting benefits for soil quality. Although we find that higher expropriation risk significantly reduces application of organic fertilizer, a welfare analysis shows that guaranteeing land tenure in this part of China would yield only minimal efficiency gains.
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Positive impacts of tenure security on investment in rural areas have been documented in China, Thailand, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
“Beyond Africa, positive impacts of tenure security on investment in rural areas have been documented in China (Jacoby et al. 2002), Thailand (Feder et al. 1988), Latin America (Bandiera 2007), and Eastern Europe (Rozelle and Swinnen 2004).”
From Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda (2014) · cites this paper as Jacoby et al. 2002
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- Authors
- Jacoby, H. G., Li, G., & Rozelle, S.
- Affiliations
- World Bank (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Venue
- American Economic Review
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2002-11-01
- Volume
- 92
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1420-1447
- ISSN
- 0002-8282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2113535361
- Cited by
- 575
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 20.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Land Rights and Reforms
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Innovations and Practices
- Keywords
- land expropriation, land tenure insecurity, rural investment, organic fertilization, soil quality, hazard analysis, Northeast China, rural households, welfare analysis
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