Jin, SongqingDeininger, Klaus2012-06-082012-06-082007-12https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7516The importance of land rental for overall economic development has long been recognized in theory, yet empirical evidence on the productivity and equity impacts of such markets and the extent to which they realize their potential has been scant. Representative data from China's nine most important agricultural provinces illustrate the impact of rental markets on households' economic strategies and welfare, and the productivity of land use at the plot level. Although there are positive impacts in each of these dimensions, transaction costs constrain participation by many producers, thus preventing rental markets from attaining their full potential. The paper identifies factors that increase transaction costs and provides a rough estimate of the productivity and equity impacts of removing them.CC BY 3.0 IGOAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICSAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL RESEARCHAGRICULTUREALLOCATIONASSETSBARGAININGBARGAINING POWERCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPARATIVE ECONOMICSCONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTSDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDISTRIBUTION OF INCOMEDRIVERSECONOMETRIC ANALYSISECONOMIC BENEFITSECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC IMPLICATIONSECONOMIC SITUATIONECONOMICSEMPLOYMENTEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESEQUALIZATIONEQUATIONSFACTOR MARKETSFACTORS OF PRODUCTIONFAMILY LABORFARM STRUCTURESFARMERSFARMSGENERAL EQUILIBRIUMGINI COEFFICIENTINCOME LEVELSINCOMESINEFFICIENCYINFORMATIONAL IMPERFECTIONSLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLABOR MOBILITYLABOR PRODUCTIVITYLABOURLABOUR MARKETSLAND REFORMLAND USELEGAL PROVISIONSLIQUIDITYLOCAL GOVERNMENTMANDATESMARGINAL PRODUCTMARKET LIBERALIZATIONMARKET OPERATIONMARKETINGMIGRATIONMORAL HAZARDMOTIVATIONOCCUPATIONSPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLITICAL ECONOMYPRIVATE PROPERTYPRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTSPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTION FUNCTIONSPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPRODUCTIVITY INCREASESPROPERTY RIGHTSRURAL LABORSEARCH COSTSSTRUCTURAL CHANGESUB-SAHARAN AFRICATRANSACTION COSTSTRANSACTIONS COSTSTRANSITION ECONOMYUNEMPLOYMENTURBAN DEVELOPMENTWAGESWEALTHWTOWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4454