Dr Peter Ho

Dr Peter Ho

LSE Professorial Fellow

Department of International Development

About me

Peter Ho is Professorial Research Fellow specializing on Chinese Economy and Development at LSE’s Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science (e-mail: P.P.Ho@lse.ac.uk). He has published 12 books, including with the Cambridge University PressOxford University PressRoutledge and Blackwell. Ho is widely published  in leading SCI- and SSCI-rated journals of Development, Planning and Environment, such as Biotechnology Advances (SCI/IF: 11.848), Land Degradation and Development (SCI/IF: 9.787), Journal of Peasant Studies (SSCI/IF: 4.149) and Cities (SSCI/IF: 2.449).

Prof. Ho works on the revision of Western theories of development, and uses China as a case. In this context, he posited the “Credibility Thesis”, described as “inspirational, innovative, and provocative with great potentials to advance theoretical inquiry into the intriguing nature of China's developmental model” (G. Lin, 2017, see CUP website).

In view of his achievements, Ho received the Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC Review noted that Ho is a “leading thinker with continuous effort … to go beyond the state of the art”. He was awarded the Kapp Prize by EAEPE, one of the largest heterodox economics associations. Ho has advised many Chinese and Dutch national leaders and members of parliament, which have included the Dutch Prime Minister and the Chinese Minister of Land and Resources. Moreover, his research has featured, amongst others in: USA Today, BBC, American PBS, Dutch Eight O'Clock News, and the China Daily.

Selected publications

  • P. Ho, “Institutional function versus form: The evolutionary credibility of land, housing and natural resources”, Land Use Policy, 2018, 75/6, pp. 642–650
  • P. Ho, Unmaking China's Development: Function and Credibility of Institutions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017)
  • X. Yang, H. Zhao and P. Ho*, “Mining-induced displacement and resettlement in China”, Resources Policy, 2017, Vol. 53, pp. 408-418
  • H. Zhao, Y. Zhao, G. Gao and P. Ho*, “China’s desertification deconstructed: towards a scientists’ model based on long-term perceptions of grassland restoration (1995–2011)”, Ecological Restoration, 2017, Vol. 26, No. S1, pp S26-36
  • P. Ho, “An Endogenous Theory of Property Rights: Opening the Black Box of Institutions”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 2016, Vol.  43., No. 6, pp. 1121-1144
  • Peter Ho, “Myths of Tenure Security and Titling: Endogenous, Institutional Change of China’s Housing and Land”, Land Use Policy, 2015, Vol. 47, pp. 352–364

Expertise Details

China's transition; development and planning; institutional theory; sustainability; heterodox economics