This book focuses on the transformation of the rural land system in China since the founding of the People's Republic of China over 70 years ago. Utilizing a comprehensive approach that includes theoretical modeling, empirical testing, questionnaire surveys, and case studies, the book aims to construct a unified analytical framework for dynamic institutional change that is based on New Institutional Economics (NIE) and incorporates recent advancements in behavioral economics. The authors construct a dynamic institutional change model based on the institutional change theory of NIE and the Prospect Theory (PT) of behavioral economics. The book summarizes and discusses the application and prospects of the behavioral institutional analysis method by using large-scale national rural household surveys and rich case studies of land system reforms such as the Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform, the "land certification" reform, and the "three trials" reform to test the theoretical model.

This book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students of land reform in China, and economists with an interest in new institutional economics, behavioral economics, land economics and the Chinese economy more broadly.