Research on World Agricultural Economy

Assessing the Impact of Land Titling Policy on Population Urbanization in China: Empirical Analysis Based on a Time-varying DID Model

Cong Ju

School of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

Lu Zhang

School of Economics and Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510640, China

Shen Yuan

School of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

Jorge Ruiz-Menjivar

Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Global Lab on Economic and Behavioral Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v7i1.2386

Received: 25 June 2025 | Revised: 5 August 2025 | Accepted: 26 August 2025 | Published Online: 4 January 2026

---

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how land titling influences population urbanization in China, with a particular focus on the mechanisms and regional heterogeneity of this effect. While previous research on population urbanization has primarily examined factors attracting people to cities, fewer studies have explored institutional barriers that limit rural-to-urban migration. The land titling policy implemented by the Chinese government represents a major institutional reform that can ease such constraints by enhancing rural residents’ land tenure security. Using panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2006 to 2020, this study employs a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model to estimate the impact of land titling on population urbanization. The empirical results show that: (1) Land titling can promote population urbanization. (2) Land titling contributes to population urbanization by strengthening livelihood security and increasing income. (3) The more economically developed an area is, the more the population urbanization can be promoted by land titling. (4) the impact is greater in non-major grain-producing areas than in major grain-producing areas. Policy implications including setting up land rights adjustment committees in developed eastern regions; providing legal aid in less developed areas; establishing standardized land transfer platforms; forming land trusteeship cooperatives in major grain areas; linking land titling with employment support.

Keywords: Property Rights; Urbanization Rate of Registered Population; Livelihood Security; Income; Regional Heterogeneity

---

References

[1] Walmsley, T., Aguiar, A., Ahmed, S.A., 2017. Labour Migration and Economic Growth in East and South‐East Asia. The World Economy. 40(1), 116–139. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12334

[2] Tombe, T., Zhu, X., 2019. Trade, Migration, and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis of China. American Economic Review. 109(5), 1843–1872. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20150811

[3] Deng, W., Zhang, S., Zhou, P., et al., 2020. Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Rural Labor Migration in China: Evidence from the Migration Stability under New-type Urbanization. Chinese Geographical Science. 30(5), 749–764. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-020-1147-7

[4] Coase, R.H., 2013. The Problem of Social Cost. The Journal of Law and Economics. 56(4), 837–877. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/674872

[5] Gong, M., Li, H., Elahi, E., 2022. Three Rights Separation reform and its impact over farm’s productivity: A case study of China. Land Use Policy. 122, 106393. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106393

[6] Luo, B., 2018. 40-year reform of farmland institution in China: target, effort and the future. China Agricultural Economic Review. 10(1), 16–35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-10-2017-0179

[7] Chen, S., Jefferson, G.H., Zhang, J., 2011. Structural change, productivity growth and industrial transformation in China. China Economic Review. 22(1), 133–150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2010.10.003

[8] Gong, B., 2018. Agricultural reforms and production in China: Changes in provincial production function and productivity in 1978–2015. Journal of Development Economics. 132, 18–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.12.005

[9] Cui, Y., Meng, J., Lu, C., 2018. Recent developments in China’s labor market: Labor shortage, rising wages and their implications. Review of Development Economics. 22(3), 1217–1238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12391

[10] Chen, Y., Shi, S., Tang, Y., 2019. Valuing the urban hukou in China: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design for housing prices. Journal of Development Economics. 141, 102381. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102381

[11] Wu, Y., Luo, J., Peng, Y., 2020. An optimization-based framework for housing subsidy policy in China: Theory and practice of housing vouchers. Land Use Policy. 94, 104526. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104526

[12] Yi, Z., Tang, X.H., Zhang, Q.Q., 2021. Stay or Return? A study of migrants’ savings and labor supply decisions. Journal of Finance and Economics. 47(05), 94–108.

[13] Lin, Y., 2018. An institutional and governance approach to understand large-scale social housing construction in China. Habitat International. 78, 96–105. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2018.06.001

[14] Wang, J., Ai, S., Huang, M., 2021. Migration history, hukou status, and urban household consumption. Economic Modelling. 97, 437–448. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2020.04.012

[15] Hu, X., Cook, S., Salazar, M.A., 2008. Internal migration and health in China. The Lancet. 372(9651), 1717–1719. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61360-4

[16] Chen, B., Liu, D., Lu, M., 2018. City size, migration and urban inequality in China. China Economic Review. 51, 42–58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2018.05.001

[17] Kinnan, C., Wang, S.-Y., Wang, Y., 2018. Access to Migration for Rural Households. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 10(4), 79–119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160395

[18] Yan, X., He, S., 2023. Healthcare in cumulatively caused migration: Hong Kong residents’ perceived Mainland healthcare quality and migration intentions in the Greater Bay Area, China. Habitat International. 136, 102828. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102828

[19] Cao, K.H., Birchenall, J.A., 2013. Agricultural productivity, structural change, and economic growth in post-reform China. Journal of Development Economics. 104, 165–180. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.06.001

[20] Lagakos, D., 2020. Urban-Rural Gaps in the Developing World: Does Internal Migration Offer Opportunities? Journal of Economic Perspectives. 34(3), 174–192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.34.3.174

[21] Adamopoulos, T., Brandt, L., Chen, C., et al., 2024. Land Security and Mobility Frictions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 139(3), 1941–1987. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae010

[22] Wang, J., Cao, Y., Fang, X., et al., 2022. Does land tenure fragmentation aggravate farmland abandonment? Evidence from big survey data in rural China. Journal of Rural Studies. 91, 126–135. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.03.013

[23] Almond, D., Li, H., Zhang, S., 2019. Land Reform and Sex Selection in China. Journal of Political Economy. 127(2), 560–585. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/701030

[24] Cheng, M., Yansui Liu, Zhou, Y., 2019. Measuring the symbiotic development of rural housing and industry: A case study of Fuping County in the Taihang Mountains in China. Land Use Policy. 82, 307–316. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.12.013

[25] Zhou, N., Cheng, W., Zhang, L., 2022. Land rights and investment incentives: Evidence from China’s Latest Rural Land Titling Program. Land Use Policy. 117, 106126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106126

[26] Giles, J., Mu, R., 2018. Village Political Economy, Land Tenure Insecurity, and the Rural to Urban Migration Decision: Evidence from China. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 100(2), 521–544. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aax086

[27] Chen, M., Gong, Y., Lu, D., et al., 2019. Build a people-oriented urbanization: China’s new-type urbanization dream and Anhui model. Land Use Policy. 80, 1–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.09.031

[28] Nchanji, E.B., Chagomoka, T., Bellwood-Howard, I., et al., 2023. Land tenure, food security, gender and urbanization in Northern Ghana. Land Use Policy. 132, 106834. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106834

[29] Li, H., Huang, X., Kwan, M.-P., et al., 2015. Changes in farmers’ welfare from land requisition in the process of rapid urbanization. Land Use Policy. 42, 635–641. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.09.014

[30] Zhang, Y., Tsai, C.-H., Liu, W., et al., 2023. Farmers’ policy cognition, psychological constructs and behavior of land transfer: empirical analysis based on household surveys in Beijing. China Agricultural Economic Review. 15(2), 323–344. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-06-2022-0122

[31] Huang, Z., Du, X., 2018. Farmers’ attitudes toward land titling and its potential effects on rural development in China. China Agricultural Economic Review. 10(3), 425–442. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-10-2015-0130

[32] Li, J., Zhang, C., Mi, Y., 2021. Land titling and internal migration: Evidence from China. Land Use Policy. 111, 105763. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105763

[33] Gao, Y., Liu, B., Yu, L., et al., 2019. Social capital, land tenure and the adoption of green control techniques by family farms: Evidence from Shandong and Henan Provinces of China. Land Use Policy. 89, 104250. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104250

[34] Leonard, B., Parker, D.P., Anderson, T.L., 2020. Land quality, land rights, and indigenous poverty. Journal of Development Economics. 143, 102435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102435

[35] Yu, G., Lu, Z., 2021. Rural credit input, labor transfer and urban-rural income gap: evidence from China. China Agricultural Economic Review. 13(4), 872–893. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-09-2020-0229

[36] Autor, D.H., Dorn, D., Hanson, G.H., 2013. The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States. American Economic Review. 103(6), 2121–2168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.6.2121

[37] Scott, J.C., 1977. The moral economy of the peasant: Rebellion and subsistence in Southeast Asia. Yale University Press: London, UK.

[38] Holden, S.T., Otsuka, K., 2014. The roles of land tenure reforms and land markets in the context of population growth and land use intensification in Africa. Food Policy. 48, 88–97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.03.005

[39] Ji, X., Yin, R., Zhang, H., 2023. Food security and overuse of agrochemicals: evidence from China’s major grain-producing areas policy. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 30(23), 64443–64459. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26620-2

[40] Chen, H., Ho, H.-W., Ji, C., et al., 2024. Spatiotemporal evolution and driving factors of agricultural land transfer in China. PLOS ONE. 19(9), e0310532. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310532

[41] Guo, K., Ji, Q., Zhang, D., 2024. A dataset to measure global climate physical risk. Data in Brief. 54, 110502. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2024.110502

[42] Guan, X., Wei, H., Lu, S., et al., 2018. Assessment on the urbanization strategy in China: Achievements, challenges and reflections. Habitat International. 71, 97–109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2017.11.009

[43] Liang, C., Penghui, J., Wei, C., et al., 2015. Farmland protection policies and rapid urbanization in China: A case study for Changzhou City. Land Use Policy. 48, 552–566. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.06.014

[44] Liu, Y., Gao, H., Cai, J., et al., 2022. Urbanization path, housing price and land finance: International experience and China’s facts. Land Use Policy. 113, 105866. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105866

[45] Lin, L., Zhu, Y., 2022. Types and determinants of migrants’ settlement intention in China’s new phase of urbanization: A multi-dimensional perspective. Cities. 124, 103622. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103622

[46] Li, S., Shao, Y., Hong, M., et al., 2023. Impact mechanisms of urbanization processes on supply-demand matches of cultivated land multifunction in rapid urbanization areas. Habitat International. 131, 102726. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102726

[47] Xu, H., Jiao, M., 2021. City size, industrial structure and urbanization quality—A case study of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in China. Land Use Policy. 111, 105735. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105735

[48] Choy, L.H.T., Li, V.J., 2017. The role of higher education in China’s inclusive urbanization. Cities. 60, 504–510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.04.008

[49] Li, K.M., Li, C.L., Liu, M., et al., 2021. Multiscale analysis of the effects of urban green infrastructure landscape patterns on PM2.5 concentrations in an area of rapid urbanization. Journal of Cleaner Production. 325, 129324.

[50] Michaels, G., Rauch, F., Redding, S.J., 2012. Urbanization and Structural Transformation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 127(2), 535–586. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs003

[51] Bao, H., Wu, X., Wang, H., et al., 2019. Conflicts Induced by Different Responses to Land Expropriation Among the Farmers Involved During Urbanization in China. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. 22(1), 7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18564/jasss.3931

[52] Yang, S., Jahanger, A., Hossain, M.R., 2023. Does China’s low-carbon city pilot intervention limit electricity consumption? An analysis of industrial energy efficiency using time-varying DID model. Energy Economics. 121, 106636. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106636

[53] Dell, M., 2010. The persistent effects of Peru's mining mita. Econometrica. 78(6), 1863–1903. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA8121

[54] Tian, Q., Guo, L., Zheng, L., 2016. Urbanization and rural livelihoods: A case study from Jiangxi Province, China. Journal of Rural Studies. 47, 577–587. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.07.015

[55] Cui, D., Wu, D., Liu, J., et al., 2019. Understanding urbanization and its impact on the livelihood levels of urban residents in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Growth and Change. 50(2), 745–774. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12285

[56] Zhang, D., Wang, W., Zhou, W., et al., 2020. The effect on poverty alleviation and income increase of rural land consolidation in different models: A China study. Land Use Policy. 99, 104989. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104989

[57] Sun, L., Abraham, S., 2021. Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects. Journal of Econometrics. 225(2), 175–199. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.09.006

[58] Li, P., Lu, Y., Wang, J., 2016. Does flattening government improve economic performance? Evidence from China. Journal of Development Economics. 123, 18–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.07.002

[59] Oladehinde, G.J., 2025. Relevance of Land Tenure Security to Rural Land Use Planning. Journal of Studies in Social Sciences. 24, 2.

[60] Wang, P., Wang, F., 2022. A study of the impact of land transfer decisions on household income in rural China. PLOS ONE. 17(10), e0276559. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276559

[61] Gibbons, S., Overman, H.G., 2012. MOSTLY POINTLESS SPATIAL ECONOMETRICS?*. Journal of Regional Science. 52(2), 172–191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2012.00760.x

[62] Wu, W., Li, Y., Liu, Y., 2022. What constrains impoverished rural regions: A case study of Henan Province in central China. Habitat International. 119, 102477. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2021.102477

[63] Lei, W., Jiao, L., Xu, G., 2022. Understanding the urban scaling of urban land with an internal structure view to characterize China’s urbanization. Land Use Policy. 112, 105781. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105781

[64] Deininger, K., Jin, S., 2006. Tenure security and land-related investment: Evidence from Ethiopia. European Economic Review. 50(5), 1245–1277. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2005.02.001

[65] Jacoby, H.G., Minten, B., 2007. Is Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa Cost-Effective? Evidence from Madagascar. The World Bank Economic Review. 21(3), 461–485. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhm011

[66] Ali, D.A., Deininger, K., Goldstein, M., 2014. Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda. Journal of Development Economics. 110, 262–275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.12.009

[67] Pan, D., Zhou, J., Yu, Y., et al., 2024. Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform and Urban-Rural Income Gap: A County-Scale Big Data Analysis in China. Sage Open. 14(3), 21582440241271262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241271262

[68] Laiyou, Z., Jiawei, L., 2023. Dilemmas and theoretical exploration of China’s rural land property rights system reform. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 7, 1238241. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1238241

[69] Zou, J., Wu, F., Zhang, F., et al., 2024. The social integration of rural migrants in urban China: The effect of hometown land tenure. Population, Space and Place. 30(5), e2766. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2766

[70] Zou, J., Chen, J., Chen, Y., 2022. Hometown landholdings and rural migrants' integration intention: The case of urban China. Land Use Policy. 121, 106307.

[71] Song, M.J., Wu, Y.L., Chen, L., 2020. Does the land titling program promote rural housing land transfer in China? Evidence from household surveys in Hubei Province. Land Use Policy. 97, 104701.

[72] Hu, X., Su, K., Chen, W., et al., 2021. Examining the impact of land consolidation titling policy on farmers’ fertiliser use: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. Land Use Policy. 109, 105645. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105645