scholarly journals The Demsetz’s Evolutionary Theory of Property Rights as Applied to Rural Land of China: A Supplement

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 888
Author(s):  
Yanlong Zhang

The main objective of this article is to contribute to the literature on land issues, especially with regard to the evolutionary theory of China’s rural land property rights. This article applies the Demsetz’s evolutionary theory of property rights as a framework into an analysis of the evolutionary process of property rights in rural land of China. It is found that externality, compactness, productivity, and organizational complexity—four principles in Demsetz’s framework—are at the core of understanding the evolution of property rights from collective control of land to family based control of land in China. However, the framework is incomplete due to being unlikely to notice the role of land titling so that a property rights game is developed in this article to extend the evolutionary theory of property rights. Importantly, it suggests the necessity of “split-rights” from family based control land to private control land in China. To sum up, this paper refreshes the dominant framework of analysis on the evolution of property rights in mainstream economics, and makes it discern when collective ownership does not evolve into pure privatization, finally, instead of into private control of land, as is currently applied to rural area in China.

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Robertson ◽  
Christina Richards

AbstractEmerging evidence points to a causal role for epigenetic variation in evolution, but evolutionary biologists have been reluctant to incorporate epigenetics into modern evolutionary theory. Part of this ambivalence comes from the assumption that epigenetic inheritance is only relevant to the evolution of plants, which is perpetuated by a comparative lack of evolutionary studies in animals. However, although most of the evidence for epigenetic inheritance comes from plants, plants and animals share many homologous epigenetic mechanisms, and plants provide a more tractable system for investigating the causal role of epigenetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic variation and its relationship with fitness. The insights from studies of epigenetic inheritance in plants may be applicable across a broad range of taxa once we establish commonalities and differences in epigenetic machinery. In this paper we present evidence for a role of epigenetic mechanisms in the evolutionary process and discuss common objections to incorporating epigenetics into evolutionary theory. This review is not exhaustive, but is meant to demonstrate that epigenetic inheritance can be incorporated into current evolutionary theory without overhauling its foundations.


1995 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 1047-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Putterman

The ever-greater roles played by markets and pecuniary incentives, and the increasing decision-making authority of localities, enterprises and individuals, have been central elements of China's economic reforms. Compared with these radical departures from the past, change in the area of property rights has been ambiguous. Depending on one's perspective, China might be seen as on its way to establishing a socialist market economy, in which public and collective ownership forms are predominant, or well along the path to a radical transformation of property rights, including a de facto private agriculture, massive private foreign investment, stock markets and the growth of private enterprise. What role property rights have played in the successes and problems of China's reforming economy is similarly debatable. The view that property rights have remained largely “social” leaves open interpretive possibilities ranging from the conclusion that China offers evidence of the viability of a market socialist option, to arguments that the transformation of property rights remains a major hurdle on the road to an economy that can support sustained growth. The quite different view that sectors experiencing substantial privatization have been the main contributors to the achievements of the reform economy, and that those maintaining public ownership have held back economic growth, is also taken by some.The nature of the property rights that have characterized China's economy during the years of economic reform, and the influence of property rights and property rights reform on the performance of the economy during that era are the subjects of this article.


Author(s):  
V.I. Bol’shakov ◽  
◽  
Yu.I. Dubrov ◽  
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Hazel Gray

This chapter explores the role of the political settlement in shaping outcomes of land investments by analysing struggles in key sectors of the economy. Land reform during the socialist period had far-reaching implications for the political settlement. Reforms to land rights under liberalization involved strengthening land markets; however, the state continued to play a significant role. Corruption within formal land management systems became prevalent during the period of high growth. Vietnam experienced a rapid growth in export agriculture but, in contrast with stable property rights for smallholders, Tanzania’s efforts to encourage large land investments were less successful. Industrialization in both countries generated new forms of land struggles that were influenced by the different distributions of power between the state, existing landowners, and investors.


Author(s):  
Professor Adebambo Adewopo ◽  
Dr Tobias Schonwetter ◽  
Helen Chuma-Okoro

This chapter examines the proper role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in achieving access to modern energy services in Africa as part of a broader objective of a pro-development intellectual property agenda for African countries. It discusses the role of intellectual property rights, particularly patents, in consonance with pertinent development questions in Africa connected with the implementation of intellectual property standards, which do not wholly assume that innovation in Africa is dependent on strong intellectual property systems. The chapter examines how existing intellectual property legal landscapes in Africa enhance or impede access to modern energy, and how the law can be directed towards improved energy access in African countries. While suggesting that IPRs could serve an important role in achieving modern energy access, the chapter calls for circumspection in applying IP laws in order not to inhibit access to useful technologies for achieving access to modern energy services.


Human Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Alden Wily

AbstractI address a contentious element in forest property relations to illustrate the role of ownership in protecting and expanding of forest cover by examining the extent to which rural communities may legally own forests. The premise is that whilst state-owned protected areas have contributed enormously to forest survival, this has been insufficiently successful to justify the mass dispossession of customary land-owning communities this has entailed. Further, I argue that state co-option of community lands is unwarranted. Rural communities on all continents ably demonstrate the will and capacity to conserve forests – provided their customary ownership is legally recognized. I explore the property rights reforms now enabling this. The replication potential of community protected forestlands is great enough to deserve flagship status in global commitments to expand forest including in the upcoming new Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).


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