Assessing evictions and expropriations in China: Efficiency, credibility and rights

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.07.015

Land Use Policy

Volume 58, 15 December 2016, Pages 437-444

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.07.015 Get rights and content

Abstract

Examining three possible ways of interpreting China⿿s laws on expropriation and eviction, I argue in this paper that a persuasive evaluative assessment of China⿿s property regime needs to examine the impact of forced evictions not only on property rights but also on basic rights such as the human right to be protected from forced evictions, and the problem of access to justice in cases of contentious evictions. Some (neo-liberal) arguments for secure property rights, while popular, are based on a simplistic understanding of rights, because they reduce the value of rights to their assumed utility. The ⿿credibility⿿ thesis advanced by Peter Ho can be used to assess evictions under China⿿s property rights and land tenure system, but according to the view taken here, a truly credible system must protect basic rights.

Section snippets

The efficiency of China⿿s property institutions in urbanisation contexts

China⿿s economic rise from the ashes of the Mao era has been closely connected to the changes made from the 1980s onward to its property and land administration systems. It was only with the creation of private land use rights, as well as mechanisms allowing the State to take land from current occupants and give new land use rights to developers, that real estate could become the very important economic sector it now is. As noted, the basic framework for this process is established by the PRC

Credibility, liyi framing and moral contention

Credibility has been defined as ⿿a measure of how actors perceive institutions as a jointly shared rule,⿿ with the proviso that the discussion of credibility is not about trust or legitimacy, and that the existence of conflict among people subject to particular institutions of a property regime does not necessarily diminish the credibility of these institutions.

⿿Although credibility is undoubtedly related to distributional conflict, it does not posit that a ⿿fully credible institution⿿ ⿿ if

China⿿s rights-centred discourse

Even though social contention over evictions and expropriations may be framed in the detached language of mainstream economics (liyi), a centrally important and basic question in public discourse about evictions is whether, or to what extent, the current rules and their operation in practice can be justified. This is a straightforwardly normative, moral and legal question.

One answer to this question was, as noted earlier, to set aside concerns about individual harm or loss by pointing to the

Conclusion

An analysis of mainstream discourse, identified as being focused on the ideas of economic interest and bargaining on the basis of the ⿿credibility thesis⿿ can help understand the current viability and relative stability of expropriation and eviction processes. It can help understand why these processes appear to have some credibility in the eyes of many in China.

Yet, according to the view taken here, an assessment of the rules and practices governing evictions and expropriations requires

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Assessing evictions and expropriations in China: Efficiency, credibility and rights

Abstract

Section snippets

The efficiency of China⿿s property institutions in urbanisation contexts

Credibility, liyi framing and moral contention

China⿿s rights-centred discourse

Conclusion

An Introduction to Property Theory

⿿China⿿s Ding Zi Hu, the United States⿿s Kelo and Singapore⿿s En-Bloc process: a new model for economic development eminent domain from a givings perspective,⿿

J. Land Use Environ. Law

Sovereign Virtue

⿿The credibility thesis and its application to property rights: (In)secure land tenure and social welfare in China,⿿

Land Use Policy

⿿Welfare propositions and interpersonal comparisons of utility,⿿

Econ. J.