Property rights and the provision of rural public goods: evidence from China’s rural collective property rights system reform

Abstract

Property rights reform is expected to mobilize multiple actors to actively participate in rural governance, thereby exerting an important influence on the provision of rural public goods. This study examines the impact of China’s Rural Collective Property Rights System Reform (RCPRSR) on rural public goods provision, with particular attention paid to its effects on the government, market actors, and farmer organizations. Based on multi-source geocoded points of interest (POI) data and township-level data on public goods provision, a panel dataset covering the period from 2012 to 2019 is constructed. A staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) approach is employed to identify the welfare effects of RCPRSR on rural public goods provision. The results show that RCPRSR significantly promotes the growth of rural public goods provision. Mechanism analysis indicates that this effect is mainly achieved through three channels: inducing greater governmental attention to public services, stimulating market-based entrepreneurial activity, and strengthening farmer organization. Further analysis reveals that the effects of RCPRSR vary across different types of public services. The coefficients are positive and significant for all three categories, with larger magnitudes for basic public services and living services. Moreover, the reform effect is weakened by greater fiscal pressure and longer distance from county or district seats, but strengthened in townships with a higher density of nonprofit organizations, which is used as a proxy for local trust. These findings provide empirical evidence on the social welfare effects of property rights reform and offer valuable insights for improving collaborative rural governance and promoting integrated urban–rural development in other regions worldwide.