An Economic Analysis of Public Interests in Land Expropriation

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the public interests in land expropriation. Methods of economics were used to analyze legal issues involved. The results indicate that land expropriation is a social choice based on personal choices, and a substitution by government for market to directly allocate land resources, which should meet an economic condition(market failure)and three legal conditions(public interests, proper compensation, and legal procedures). The conclusion is that public interests in land expropriation are of Kaldor-Hicks Efficiency. Land expropriation can raise allocation efficiency of land resources, which will eventually compensate the farmers for their loss and improve their welfare.