Forest Tenure Reform in China: A Choice Experiment on Farmers’ Property Rights Preferences
通过选择实验调查农户对林地承包合同各项产权属性的偏好，发现农户高度关注合同提供的权利类型，降低合同终止风险和引入优先续约权能显著提高其支付意愿。
Decentralization experiments are currently underway in the Chinese forestry sector. However, researchers and policy makers tend to ignore a key question: what do forest farmers really want from reform? This paper addresses this question using a survey-based choice experiment to investigate farmers’ preferences for various property rights attributes of a forestland contract. We found that farmers are highly concerned with the types of rights provided by a contract. Reducing perceived risks of contract termination and introducing a priority right for the renewal of an existing contract significantly increases farmers’ marginal willingness to pay for a forest contract. <i></i>