Funding body: National Natural Science Foundation of China
Principal Investigator: Prof. Lei Feng, Renmin University of China
Co-Investigator: Helen Bao
Budget: RMB 480,000 (Approximately £55,600)
Abstract:
This study constructs a dynamic institutional change model from the perspective of micro-motivation and endogenous changes. It examines the path characteristics, determining conditions and influencing factors of China’s rural land institutional change by using a combination of theoretical modelling, measurement testing, questionnaire survey, simulation and case analysis methods. 1) Based on endogenous institutional change theory, behavioral economics, learning theory, and game theory, we construct individual utility function that include endogenous preferences in order to investigate the micro-mechanism of dynamic modelling and consolidate the micro-foundation of institutional change theory. 2) We build a mathematical model of dynamic change based on the individual’s utility function and integrate short-term change and long-term evolution into a unified analysis framework, moving beyond the dichotomy of imposed-induced/rational construction-spontaneous evolution. This framework is expected to explain both individual institutional changes and the continuous process of multiple institutional changes, both the success and the failure of reform. 3) To conduct a large number of extensive empirical tests and systematically summarize and analyze the experience and lessons of the rural land institutional reforms since the founding of the China, we plan to combine traditional questionnaire survey-quantitative methods with behavioral economics field experiments, computer simulations, and dynamic tracking survey methods. These works help to explore the commonalities and laws and provide theoretical guidance and empirical support for deepening the implementation of a number of central reforms and promoting the integration of urban and rural development.