The History and Development Logic of China's Urban Housing Security System Since the Reform and Opening-up

-- Based on the Paradigm of Historical Institutionalist Analysis

Abstract

Housing is an important issue related to people's basic needs for survival, social stability and development. Most studies have focused on the forms of protection and institutional improvement of the urban housing security system, but few have analysed it from the perspective of institutional change. Based on the paradigm of historical institutionalism analysis, it is found that since the reform and opening up, the system has gone through four different stages: strengthening government subsidies, emphasising provident fund services, emphasising demand-side reforms and returning to housing attributes. The obvious incremental benefit effect at the economic, social and political levels, stakeholder participation, the formation of interest inertia, the self-reinforcing mechanism caused by empirical inertia and the high exit costs have led to a strong path dependence in the change of the urban housing security system. The introduction of housing security policies, the movement of a large number of rural residents and the idea of "housing is not for speculation" are the key points in the evolution of the system, and the interplay of these internal and external contradictions has driven the evolution and progress of the urban housing security system.