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A ground-breaking new study of China's development paradox - predicated on informal and ambiguous institutions - through property and resources.
List of contents
Introduction: an archaeology of institutions; 1. Institutional change in China's development: myths of tenure security and titling; 2. In defense of endogenous development: urban and rural land markets; 3. The 'Credibility Thesis' and its application to property rights; 4. A theorem on dynamic disequilibrium: debunking path dependence and equilibrium; 5. Understanding informality and insecurity: empiricism as basis for institutionalism; 6. Making and unmaking the property bubble: boom, bust and unintended welfare?; 7. Empty institutions, non-credibility and power: the grazing ban and mining; Conclusion: theoretical implications for capital, labor and beyond.
About the author
Peter Ho is Full Professor at Tsinghua University and Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands. Ho is interested in the revision of Western theories of development and uses China as a case. He is fellow of China's prestigious 1000 Talents' Scheme, received the Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council, and was awarded the EAEPE Kapp Prize.
Summary
China is an enigma: an emerging power burdened with all of the 'wrong' institutions - informal, insecure and opaque. Ho explains this development through compelling new case-studies of property and resources, appealing to all readers uncomfortable with mainstream economics, and to scholars across geography, sociology, law, anthropology, administration and politics.
