Why Land Titling is Always Hard: Land Reallocation and Path Dependence
研究利用全国代表性农户调查数据，发现中国土地确权进展未达中央目标，过去频繁的土地调整通过路径依赖机制阻碍了当前确权实施，加剧了地权不安全。
Securing property rights is critical for developing countries, yet the progress of many land titling reforms has been far from smooth. This study centres on China’s land titling program, seeking to elucidate why these reforms often encounter unexpected hurdles and providing empirical evidence addressing the role of path dependence in land rights insecurity. Utilising nationally representative household-level survey data, our research reveals that the current progress/quality of China’s land titling efforts falls notably short of the central government’s objective. Further empirical analysis conducted at both household and village levels reveals the adverse effects of past land reallocations on current land titling implementations. This highlights the influence of path dependence in exacerbating land tenure insecurity and shaping the existing challenges encountered in land titling implementations.