Download This PaperThe Long-Term Health and Economic Consequences of Improved Property Rights
16 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2016 Last revised: 19 Jun 2023
Date Written: April 18, 2016
Abstract
This paper studies the long-term health and economic consequences of China’s Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform—a property reform that assigned collectively owned farmland to individual households with secure tenures and boosted labor productivity among rural populations. Using regional variation in reform timing and pace, I provide evidence that early-life exposure to HRS improved individuals' later-life health, education, and labor market outcomes. However, exposure to HRS at critical school ages reduced human capital investment in children, making them less likely to receive education and more likely to remain in agriculture.
Keywords: property rights reform, Household Responsibility System, early childhood, adult outcomes
JEL Classification: I15, I31, J24, P26, Q15
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