"In the December 2005 issue of" Economic Affairs", a collection of authors considered alternative institutions for planning and managing urban affairs. Following up the idea of 'planning by contract', this paper reflects on the role of negotiation in securing gains from trade over contested...

The significance of informal land registration in property transactions and development has been discussed at length, but there are few examples of in-depth case studies of how this information accessing and collection institution relates to them and how it may create property rights. This paper...

A state monopoly over a scarce natural resource under open access can arguably reduce the costs of supply by constraining rent dissipation. A monopoly over the collection and trading of sand was formed in Hong Kong by legislation in 1935 in the wake of disputes between sandmen and villagers and...