PRESS RELEASES | DEC 23, 2015

Shitong Qiao receives the Judge Ralph K Winter Prize

Dr Shitong Qiao, Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of the Master of Laws Programme (Chinese Law) won the Judge Ralph K Winter Prize which is awarded annually to the best student paper written in law and economics at Yale Law School.  

Dr Qiao’s dissertation, entitled “Chinese Small Property: The Co-Evolution of Law and Social Norms”, investigates a market of informal real estate in China, referred to the term “small property” (xiaochanquan), as their property rights are smaller/weaker than the conventional big/formal property rights. His dissertation investigates the formation and operation of this market, and how it interacts with the legal system, eventually leading to legal reforms. Based on this case study Dr Qiao argues that property norms can change more swiftly than property law and serve as an imperfect institutional infrastructure for market transition. His dissertation also develops a model for the co-evolution of property law and norms with particular implications for developing countries.

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