Land value capture has long been a hotly debated topic, and it has influenced a wide variety of land ownership regimes. Property Rights, Land Values and Urban Development examines the role and impact of government intervention on land markets in China. It reveals that the state has taken selective advantage of the ambiguous definition of property rights in pursuit of the objective of rapid urban growth. Through detailed empirical analysis and case studies, the book develops approaches that are specifically designed to assess the extent of issues engendered by government activities at both macro and micro levels. It also presents a comprehensive and international review on betterment and compensation. Taking the land market of China as an example, it applies the theoretical framework of New Institutional Economics to analyse institutional arrangements at the national, municipal and project levels. It concludes with the implications of property rights reform to promote the sustainable development of land markets. The issues discussed in this book will be of particular interest to academics and researchers in land economics, Asian studies and development studies.