In China, where collectives own farmland but farmers may hold "use rights" to the land, a case can be made for a property rights system with incomplete security of tenure but with strong transfer rights, which permit "specialization without regret"-- so farmers can recoup the value of an investment even if they exit farming.

Crossing national borders, adds significantly to price dispersion. This study of prices in Japan and the United States finds that a susbstantial part of that border effect is attributable to distance, shipping costs, exchange rates, and relative variability in wages.

There is a tendency toward chronic, long-term poverty in Poland. Most at risk: larger households, farm households, and households dependent on social welfare. Least at risk: households of employees or the self-employed, educated households, households headed by pensioners, households that are part of kinship networks, and households with liquid assets, durables, or access to financial resources. Among those who missed out on the benefits of the first phase of economic prosperity, children are overrepresented.

During the turbulent years 1976-96, aggregate data for Brazil appear to show only small changes in mean income, inequality, and incidence of poverty -- suggesting little change in the distribution of income. But a small group of urban households -- excluded from formal labor markets and safety nets -- was trapped in indigence. Based on welfare measured in terms of income alone, the poorest part of urban Brazil has experienced two lost decades.

Developmental Dilemmas singles out land as an object of study and places it in the context of one of the world's largest and most populous countries undergoing institutional reform: the People's Republic of China. The book demonstrates that private property protected by law, the principle of 'getting-the-prices-right', and the emergence of effectively functioning markets are the outcome of a given society's historical development and institutional fabric. Peter Ho argues that the successful creation of new institutions hinges in part on choice and timing in relation to the particular constellation of societal, economic, political and cultural parameters. Disregarding these could result in rising inequality, bad land stewardship, and the eruption of land-related grievances.

Includes bibliographies.