Doctoral Dissertation Research: Enforcing the Law in an Authoritarian State: Property Rights Reform in China

法治和产权保障被认为是经济增长和繁荣的基本要素。但法治是如何产生的呢？为什么一些政府执行法律而另一些政府无视法律？本项目通过对中国产权的研究来探讨强大的法律制度的起源。在过去的十年里，中国的地方政府非法没收了成千上万农民的土地。然而，在该国的一些地区，农民的合法权利显然比其他地区得到了更强有力的保护。根据官方统计，在一些省份，只有不到1%的土地征用是非法的，而在其他省份，这一数字高达24%。如何解释中国不同地区房地产机构的相对优势和劣势？为了解决这个问题，本项目使用了多种方法。一个新的地理空间数据集，包含近100万笔财产缉获，将提供一个广泛的图景，说明哪些经济和政治条件与法治的加强有关。该项目包括对中国四个省份的城市进行比较分析。这些案例研究将更详细地了解使个人能够采取行动保护其合法权利和加强机构的过程。政策制定者和学者都对强有力的法律和安全的产权的起源感兴趣。发展机构往往致力于建立稳定的制度基础，从而在没有长期援助承诺的情况下实现长期增长。对于那些希望在构成潜在安全威胁的不稳定国家建立法治的政策制定者来说，这个问题也很重要。该项目为这些努力从设计良好的法律转变为执行良好的法律提供了理论和数据。

The rule of law and secure property rights are thought to be essential ingredients for economic growth and prosperity. But how does the rule of law emerge? Why do some governments enforce laws while others ignore them? This project investigates the origins of the strong legal institutions through a study of property rights in China. Over the past decade, local governments in China have illegally seized land from hundreds of thousands of farmers. Yet in some areas of the country, farmers evidently enjoy stronger protection of their legal rights than in others. According to official statistics, in some provinces less than 1 percent of land seizures are illegal while in others the figure is as high as 24 percent. What explains the relative strength and weakness of property institutions in different areas of China?To address this question, this project uses multiple methods. A new geospatial dataset of close to a million property seizures will provide a broad picture of what economic and political conditions are associated with increased rule of law. This project includes a comparative analysis of cities in four Chinese provinces. These case studies will provide a more detailed understanding of the processes that allow individuals to act to protect their legal rights and strengthen institutions.The origins of strong laws and secure property rights are of interest to policymakers as well as scholars. Development agencies often work to build stable institutional foundations that can lead to long-term growth without long-term aid commitments. The issue is also relevant to policymakers who want to build the rule of law in unstable countries that pose potential security threats. The project generates theory and data for these efforts to move from well-designed laws to well-enforced ones.