Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
12-2004
Abstract
We employ survey data collected in 2001 in Zhejiang province to investigate patterns and determinants of land market development. Previous studies have noted the correlation between growth of off-farm jobs and rental-market development at the aggregate level, but failed empirically to demonstrate mechanisms at the disaggregate level. Our analyses find concrete evidence at the household level connecting developments in labour and land markets. Growth in off-farm jobs allow rural households to transfer labour out of farming and prompt them to relinquish land rights, generating a supply of land that drives rental activities. We also go beyond interactions between factor markets and examine how local institution building promotes rental-market development. Institutions that either lower transaction costs or secure property rights are found to be crucial in explaining cross-regional variations in rental-market development. Finally, the rise of land rental markets also highlights the role of collective ownership in shaping rural development trajectory.
Discipline
Agricultural and Resource Economics | Asian Studies
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
China Quarterly
Volume
180
Issue
1
First Page
1031
Last Page
1049
ISSN
0305-7410
Identifier
10.1017/s0305741004000748
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
ZHANG, Qian Forrest, MA, Qingguo, & XU, Xu.(2004). Development of land rental markets in rural Zhejiang: Growth of off-farm jobs and institution building. China Quarterly, 180(1), 1031-1049.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/276
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741004000748