AIER Visiting Research Fellow Craig Richardson's article on property rights in China has been featured in Barron's:

MOST EXPERTS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AGREE that the rule of law -- with secure property rights, enforcement of contracts, and freedom from regulation and special privilege favoring one group over others -- are important prerequisites for prosperity. This makes China, in the eyes of most, an exception.

Since the mid-1980s, an estimated 40 million peasant farmers have had their land expropriated for commercial development, for a tiny fraction of the land's value. The Washington-based Property Rights Alliance constructed an International Property Rights Index last year, ranking China 46th of 70 countries, right after Colombia.