Why Land Titling is Always Hard: Land Reallocation and Path Dependence

Securing property rights is critical for developing countries, yet the progress of many land titling reforms has been far from smooth. This study centres on China’s land titling program, seeking to elucidate why these reforms often encounter unexpected hurdles and providing empirical evidence addressing the role of path dependence in land rights insecurity. Utilising nationally representative household-level survey data, our research reveals that the current progress/quality of China’s land titling efforts falls notably short of the central government’s objective. Further empirical analysis conducted at both household and village levels reveals the adverse effects of past land reallocations on current land titling implementations. This highlights the influence of path dependence in exacerbating land tenure insecurity and shaping the existing challenges encountered in land titling implementations.