This article explores the nature of China's land-use rights system, its evolution and impact on resource allocation and local governments' public finances. In recent decades, the public ownership of land has not hindered the development of a thriving market economy. Since the inception of the...

Facing a substantial loss of farmland in the reform era, the Chinese central government established a highly centralized land management system in 1998 to guarantee its capacity to meet the domestic food needs. In order to maintain high-speed economic growth, local governments in China made...