Law and Economics with Chinese Characteristics
Institutions for Promoting Development in the Twenty-First Century

Edited by David Kennedy and Joseph E. Stiglitz



Policymakers and economists largely agree that "rule of law" and property rights are essential for a sound economic policy, particularly for most developing countries. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that transplanting legal frameworks from one society to another doesn't work--even though neoliberal orthodoxy has held that it should. China's economic development offers a backdrop for developing alternative viewpoints on these issues. In this book, economists, academics, and policymakers wade straight into the discussion, using China as a concrete reference point. The volume is the result of a series of dialogues among academics and policymakers from China and around the world. While the authors are not at all of one mind on many things, they do share the conviction that China is now entering a critical phase in its economic development and in its transition to a distinctly Chinese market economy. The essays cover a broad range of subjects that have been particularly relevant in China's growth, from property rights to social rights, corporate rights, institutions, intellectual property, and justice. Although the work thoroughly analyzes the best regulatory and institutional frameworks for China's evolving economic and political strategy, its ultimate goal is bigger: it seeks to aid policymakers in both developing and developed countries to create--or in the latter case reform--institutional and regulatory frameworks to achieve equitable and sustained development.

Table of Contents

Introduction, David Kennedy and Joseph E. Stiglitz

Part I: Conceptual Foundations
1. Law and Development Economics: Toward a New Alliance, David Kennedy
2. Creating the Institutional Foundations for a Market Economy, Joseph E. Stiglitz
3. Analyzing Legal Formality and Informality: Lessons from the Land-titling and Microcredit Programs, Antara Haldar and Joseph E. Stiglitz

Part II: Towards Law and Development Policies with Chinese Characteristics
Section introduction
A. Property Rights
4. The Economics Behind Law in a Market Economy: Alternatives to the Neo-Liberal Orthodoxy, Joseph E. Stiglitz
5. Some Caution about Property Rights as a Recipe for Economic Development, David Kennedy
6. Rural Land Rights in China, Roy Prosterman
7. The Role of Property Rights in Chinese Economic Transition, Kenneth Ayotte and Patrick Bolton
B. Intellectual Property Rights for China's Development
8. Institutional Design for China's Innovation System: Implications for Intellectual Property Rights, Joseph E. Stiglitz
9. The evolution of China's IPR system and its impact on the innovative performance of MNCs and Local Firms in China, Zheng Liang and Lan Xue
10. The Property and Intellectual Property Exchanges (PIPEs) in China since the 1990s, Heping Cao
C. Corporate Rights
11. The China Aviation Oil Episode: Law and Development in China and Singapore, Curtis J. Milhaupt and Katharina Pistor
12. Legal Deterrence: The foundation of Corporate Governance - Evidence from China, Zhong Zhang
D. Social Rights
13. Generosity and Participation: variations in Urban China's Minimum Livelihood Guarantee Policy, Qin Gao and Carl Riskin
14. The Intergenerational Content of Social Spending: Health Care and Sustainable Growth in China, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Francesco Saraceno
E. Labor Rights
15. The Hukou Reform and Unification of Rural-urban Social Welfare, Cai Fang

Part III: Institutional Foundations for the Chinese Market Economy: The State
Section introduction
A. Decentralization
16. Deregulation, Decentralization and China's Growth in Transition, Justin Yifu Lin, Mingxing Liu and Ran Tao
17. From Industrialization to Urbanization: The Social Consequences of Changing Fiscal Incentives on Local Government's Behavior, James Kai-sing Kung, Chenggang Xu and Feizhou Zhou
B. Enforcing Justice
18. China's Network Justice, Benjamin L. Liebman and Tim Wu
19. China's Courts: Restricted Reform, Benjamin L. Liebman