Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

No 370: Forestland Reform in China: What do the Farmers Want? A Choice Experiment on Farmers’ Property Rights Preferences

Pin Qin (), Fredrik Carlsson () and Jintao Xu ()
Additional contact information
Pin Qin: College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Postal: 100871, Beijing, China
Fredrik Carlsson: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 640, SE 40530 GÖTEBORG
Jintao Xu: College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Postal: 100871, Beijing, China

Abstract: Various decentralization experiments are currently underway in the Chinese forestry sector. However, a key question often ignored by researchers and policy makers is what farmers really want from reform. This paper addresses this question using a survey-based choice experiment. We investigated farmers’ preferences for various property-rights attributes of a forestland contract. We found that farmers are highly concerned with what types of rights a contract provides. Reducing perceived risks of contract termination and introducing a priority right in the renewal of an old contract significantly increase farmers’ marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for a forest contract. An extended waiting time for rights to harvest the forest reduces a farmer’s perceived value of a contract. Farmers are also concerned with the tenure length. In one region, the annual willingenss to pay for a 50-year contract is even higher than the annual willingness to pay for 25-year contract.

Keywords: China; Choice experiment; Forest; MWTP; Property rights

JEL-codes: D61; Q15; Q23; Q50; Q51

29 pages, June 30, 2009

Full text files 

20591 HTML file

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Jessica Oscarsson ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0370This page generated on 2024-11-14 18:33:27.