Submissions Accepted for Presentation at the World Bank Land Conference 2024

This research addresses the phenomenon of what can be described as the “Housing Dilemma in India”. On one hand, the housing market faces a housing shortage of 18.78 million units 1, and at the same time, the housing supply in the market is flooded with unsold inventory worth INR 820 billion 2 and around 10 million units were lying vacant. The research looks into the core reason and explanation into this Housing dilemma through Land policy shift in Indian scenario. The case study of NCR Delhi being a unique administrative institution juxtaposing the complexity of Urban Land governance and development

Land occupation for construction has become the primary driving force behind the reduction of cultivated land in rural areas of China during the rapid industrialization and urbanization stage, leading to a decline in both the quantity and quality of the country's cultivated land. This study utilizes provincial data from the period 2006-2021 to investigate the impact of (industrial and population) agglomeration and local government fiscal deficits on cultivated land expropriation in China. The findings reveal that industrial agglomeration has a significant and positive impact on the expropriation of cultivated land. Although population agglomeration does not directly affect the rate of cultivated land expropriation, it significantly increases the ratio of cultivated land being converted into residential land. The local fiscal deficits (primarily at the provincial level) significantly increase the cultivated land expropriation rate.

This study explores the effect of relaxing farmland regulation on structural change and agriculture development using land reform in Chongqing, a municipality in China. Conversion of farmland to urban land is strictly constrained by the national construction land quota in China. In 2008, Chongqing invented Land Coupon System, which creates a market for farmers and firms to trade newly created construction land quota. Farmers obtain land coupons by reclaiming their rural housing to farmland and real estate firms need to purchase land coupons before bidding for a parcel of urban land to develop. I collect comprehensive transaction records of land coupons from Chongqing country land exchange. Preliminary results imply that counties supply land coupons more experience faster structural change, measured by reduction of agriculture employment share. Furthermore, reclaiming rural housing to farmland foster grain output by increasing agricultural sown area.

What is the impact of mandatory disclosures of quality on market outcomes? Does impact differ across sub-markets and income groups? We answer these questions in the context of housing markets in India where information asymmetry between homebuyers and developers is high and litigation against housing projects is common. We find that a 2017 reform mandating developers to make litigation details public led to a decline in prices of litigated housing units (lemons). We find suggestive evidence for developers lowering prices as a response to decline in sales of litigated units. Prices of litigated units declined after the reform for all but the richest income quartile of homebuyers. Further, the decline in prices was limited to the non-luxury sub-market and there was no statistically significant impact in the luxury sub-market. We provide support for disclosure laws in developing countries to reduce market inefficiencies and unequal access to information.