Publications

Leases as Subdivisions of Land: A Comparative Analysis of Singapore, New South Wales, and British Columbia

Edward Ti and Pearlie Peh

A lease is created by carving out a smaller estate from a larger estate, while a subdivision of land is often synonymous with a physical partition. However, where the term of a lease exceeds certain statutorily prescribed periods of time, the demise may amount to a subdivision of land, even without physical partitioning or tangible changes to the land. This article seeks primarily to clarify doubts surrounding when temporal subdivision of this nature occurs, given the amendments to the Land Titles Act 1993 following the Singapore Court of Appeal’s pronouncements in Golden Village Multiplex Pte Ltd v Marina Centre Holdings Pte. This involves an analysis of matters cutting across property law principles, land registration, and planning law. Additionally, this article compares the subdivision framework in New South Wales, Australia, and British Columbia, Canada, with Singapore, exploring how the compared jurisdictions treat the underlying lease where there is a lack of subdivision permission in situations so requiring.

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SMU City Dialogues White Paper: Reconciling the Costs of Sustainable Cities

Orlando WOODS and Barnabas MAH

In 2019, the Singapore Management University (SMU) inaugurated a series of engaged discussions involving business, government and experts from academia, on topics that matter to the city. “City Dialogues” aims to bring together invited delegates for frank and open discussions under Chatham House rules, to share ideas and best practices, at the end of which a White Paper is produced to summarise the key discussions and ideas arising that can create societal and community benefits. The second “City Dialogues” session was held from 17 to 18 January 2024 and coincided with the launch of SMU’s Urban Institute, a new research institute dedicated to multi- and inter-disciplinary research on cities in Asia. Given the urgent task of addressing the climate crisis, and the inevitable challenge that developing sustainable cities demands large initial investments, while the benefits often only materialise many years later, the theme of this “City Dialogues” session was “Reconciling the Costs of Sustainable Cities”.

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Migration and resource misallocation in China

Xiaolu LI, Lin MA, and Yang TANG

We structurally estimate the firm-level frictions across prefectures in China and quantify their aggregate and distributional implications. Based on a general equilibrium model with input and output distortions and migration, we show that the firm-level frictions are less dispersed and less correlated with firm productivity in richer prefectures. Counterfactual exercises show that reducing the within-prefecture misallocation increases aggregate welfare, discourages migration toward large prefectures, and reduces spatial inequality. Moreover, internal migration alleviates micro-frictions’ impacts on aggregate welfare and worsens their effects on spatial inequality.

LI, Xiaolu; MA, Lin; and TANG, Yang. Migration and resource misallocation in China. (2024). Journal of Development Economics. 167, 1-15.

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The distributional impacts of transportation networks in China

Lin MA and Tang YANG

This paper evaluates the distributional impacts of transportation networks in China.We show that the quality of roads and railroads vary substantially over time and space, and ignoring these variations biases the estimates of travel time. To account for quality differences, we construct a new panel dataset and approximate quality using the design speed of roads and railroads that varies by vintage, class, and terrain at the pixel level. We then build a dynamic spatial general equilibrium model that allows for multiple modes and routes of transportation and forward-looking migration decision.We find aggregate welfare gain and less spatial income inequality led by expanding transportation network.

MA, Lin and YANG, Tang. The distributional impacts of transportation networks in China. (2023). 1-82.

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Promoting ethnic diversity in public housing: Singapore and England compared

Edward TI and Alvin W. L. SEE

Purpose: Although the Singapore model of ethnic integration through its public housing programme is well known, the formula for replicating its success elsewhere remains underexplored. This study aims to identify the criteria for successful transplantation, specifically by identifying the housing tenure types that are most amenable to the implementation of the Singapore model. Design/methodology/approach: Through a comparative study of two common law jurisdictions – Singapore and England – this article highlights the differences in their housing landscapes and how such differences impact upon the adoption of ethnic integration policies through housing. The article also unpacks, through a cross-disciplinary lens, the concepts of public housing and housing tenures, drawing heavily on socio-legal and housing literature. Findings: The authors observe that the implementation of ethnic integration policies is best justified and most easily achieved in leasehold estates that exhibit a strong tenurial relationship with the state retaining a more than notional role. Public housing in Singapore being an exemplar of this model, the implementation of its ethnic integration policy is relatively straightforward. By contrast, the shrinking public housing sector in England means that adoption of a similar policy would have limited reach. Even then, the political–legal environment in England that promotes home ownership is potentially hostile to the adoption of such policy as it may be seen as an infringement of private property right. Originality/value: The cross-jurisdiction comparison is supplemented by an interdisciplinary analysis that seeks to bridge differences in the categorisation of tenure in housing and law literatures so as to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue.

TI, Seng Wei, Edward and SEE, Alvin W. L.. Promoting ethnic diversity in public housing: Singapore and England compared. (2023). Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law.

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Compensation Thresholds for Collective Sales: Singapore & Australia Compared

Edward TI

Strata titles are a critically important Australian legal export. New South Wales’ (NSW) strata legislation has been particularly influential, having been adopted in numerous jurisdictions, including Singapore in 1967. As a statutory framework, strata law solves the problem of ‘floating freeholds’ by creating indefeasible ownership of individual units in a building, guides owners in managing the development, and sets out the dispute resolution process when disagreements occur.

In an increasing number of jurisdictions (including Singapore and three states in Australia), strata legislation also enables the strata scheme to be terminated and sold for redevelopment where the requisite majority, as opposed to an unanimity of subsidiary proprietors’ consent to the sale. Strata law imposes compensation thresholds that must minimally be paid to dissenting owners. In Singapore, the rule is that no minority owner should suffer a ‘financial loss,’ while in NSW and Western Australia (WA), this amount is pegged to what the owner would theoretically have obtained had the unit been acquired compulsorily by the state. In this article, I compare strata law in Singapore, NSW, and WA in relation to compensation thresholds and explain why the Australian market value standard should also be adequate to compensate unit owners in Singapore.

Ti, Edward Seng Wei. "Compensation Thresholds for Collective Sales: Singapore & Australia Compared." Asian Journal of Comparative Law 18, no. 3 (2023): 345-61. doi:10.1017/asjcl.2023.21.

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Young Women in Cities: Urbanization and Gender-biased Migration

Yumi KOH, Li JING, Yifan WU, Junjian YI, and Hanzhe ZHANG

Young women outnumber young men in cities in many countries during periods of economic growth and urbanization. This gender imbalance among young urbanites is more pronounced in larger cities. We use the gradual rollout of special economic zones across China as a quasi-experiment to establish the causes of this gender imbalance. Our analysis suggests that a key contributor is gender-differential incentives to migrate due to rural women’s higher likelihood of marrying and marrying up in cities when urbanization creates more economic opportunities and an abundance of high-income marriage-age men.

Koh, Yumi and Li, Jing and Wu, Yifan and Yi, Junjian and Zhang, Hanzhe, Young Women in Cities: Urbanization and Gender-biased Migration (January 4, 2024).

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Cities in a pandemic: Evidence from China

Badi H. BALTAGI, Ying DENG, Li JING, and Zhenlin YANG

This paper studies the impact of urban density, city government efficiency, and medical resources on COVID-19 infection and death outcomes in China. We adopt a simultaneous spatial dynamic panel data model to account for (i) the simultaneity of infection and death outcomes, (ii) the spatial pattern of the transmission, (iii) the intertemporal dynamics of the disease, and (iv) the unobserved city-specific and time-specific effects. We find that, while population density increases the level of infections, government efficiency significantly mitigates the negative impact of urban density. We also find that the availability of medical resources improves public health outcomes conditional on lagged infections. Moreover, there exists significant heterogeneity at different phases of the epidemiological cycle.

Baltagi, B. H., Deng, Y., Li, J., & Yang, Z. (2023). Cities in a pandemic: Evidence from China. Journal of Regional Science, 63, 379–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12626

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Compensating and taxing land regulations

Edward TI

In this article, I synthesise the literature regarding the law and economics approach dealing with compulsory acquisition. Contrary to the status quo, I reason that regulations not amounting to an acquisition, but which adversely affect economic value, should also be compensable from an efficiency lens. This can be accommodated within the existing jurisprudence by recognising that acquisition ‘gains’ can also include environmental amenities, rather than only limiting these to land or property in specie by the acquiring authority. Similarly, where landowners enjoy an uplift in value from regulations, some part of this windfall profit should be taxable. The article takes reference from South Australia and Victoria’s statutory frameworks, the latter primarily because of the commencement of the Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021 (Vic) in July 2023. The broader principle advocated however is that more efficient and just outcomes would ensue if both acquisitions and regulations affecting land value are compensated on the same yardstick.

TI, Seng Wei, Edward. Compensating and taxing land regulations. (2023). Adelaide Law Review. 44, (1), 135-162.

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Strata plan cancellations in Australasia: A comparative analysis of nine jurisdictions

Edward TI

A growing number of Australasian jurisdictions now permit a supermajority of owners to terminate a co-owned building scheme allowing proprietors to redevelop, or more commonly, sell the underlying land. This planning tool aids municipal rejuvenation, prevents urban sprawl and provides new housing. In this paper, I examine the provisions pertaining to cancellation of unit plans under nine jurisdictions – New Zealand and all eight jurisdictions in Australia. This comparative analysis highlights several unique aspects of the Unit Title Act 2010 (NZ) such as the way its voting thresholds are calculated and the idiosyncratic application of the ‘just and equitable’ standard in endorsing all forms of plan cancellations. At the same time, NZ’s unit title jurisprudence has been described as ‘relatively immature’. This confluence provides the basis to analyse these novel issues from both doctrinal and comparative perspective across the nine jurisdictions.

TI, Seng Wei, Edward. Strata plan cancellations in Australasia: A comparative analysis of nine jurisdictions. (2022). Monash University Law Review. 48, (1), 1-35.

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