Institutional transformation and marketisation: the changing patterns of housing investment in urban China

Much of the discussion on state and market in the literature is conducted in binary forms. State and market are contrasted with each other. However, far from impeding marketisation, the state plays the role of accelerating the marketisation process in China. State acts as the builder of market. The Chinese experience has created unprecedented possibilities for institutional innovation. The institutional choices and structural changes represent the changing roles of different actors in the housing system, which shift the patterns of housing investment. This paper examines the changing roles of the different actors (state, work units and households) in shaping the patterns of housing investment.