Village committees, as grassroots spontaneously formed by rural collective members in China’s hierarchy system, play an irreplaceable role in the management of rural public affairs. Based on the filed survey dataset taken from three pilot counties/districts in Sichuan province, we explored the significant role that village committees played in farmers’ withdrawal from rural homesteads (WRH). Our empirical results, according to binary logistic regression (BLR) modelling, indicated that the WRH was significantly affected by the triple roles of village committees, among which information intermediary was the most effective followed by the trust builder and then the coordinated manager. Firstly, village committees’ involvement facilitated the WRH by improving policy transparency and decreasing information cost. Secondly, the depth of village committees’ participation (i.e., being involved in multiple phases) positively affected the WRH given its signification of the participation of farmers. Whereas the breadth of participation (i.e., considering various demands of different participants) negatively affected the process of WRH by reducing the decision-making efficiency. Thirdly, farmers’ trust in institutions played a positive role in the WRH, but their confidence in village cadres had limited impact. We therefore argue that promising village committees should act as “all-round stewards” in the decision-making of rural households, which not only includes the transmit of information between those above and those below, but also needs to actively strive for farmers’ trust by letting their voice heard. Based on our empirical findings, this paper finally proposed some policy suggestions, such as strengthening mutual communication, empowerment of rural grassroots, encouraging farmers’ participation and improving formal institutions.

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The issue of environmental governance has received considerable attention. While extensive research focuses on the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection, this paper provides a different perspective by exploring the mechanisms affecting the relationship between land-based revenue and environmental performance. Based on the regression analyses of province-level data during 2000-2018 in China, the results show that: (1) land-based finance has a significantly positive impact on air pollution; (2) both central government policies and local residents' concerns incentivize local governments to improve environmental quality through land revenue; (3) regional differences exist regarding the impact of these two factors, probably due to various development stages and financial conditions; (4) local governments tend to increase expenditure on environmental protection by taking residents' concerns into consideration. This research contributes to understanding the driving forces behind the relationship between land finance and environmental performance, and it extends our knowledge of local governments' decision-making processes to accomplish multiple tasks.

Land value capture is considered as a promising strategy to finance transit-oriented development (TOD). This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the potential to apply negotiable developer obligations (NDOs) for TOD projects in China through two game experiments simulating negotiation processes. Based on the conceptual framework of three fundamental dilemmas, our findings indicate that (1) value capture-based contributions to TOD often 'compete' with other public goals; (2) despite lacking clear regulation, some cities have successfully introduced informal practices to acquire developer contributions; and (3) NDOs seem less feasible under the current conditions of the anti-corruption campaign in China.