Studies relationships between informality, property rights (PR), and poverty in 3 Chinese cities.
Draws upon entitlements theories of Sen, de Soto, Ostrom, Alchian, and Coase.
Household performances on 6 poverty domains expressed as function of 4 PR domains.
Some PR associated with lower poverty indicators-Sen effects and de Soto effects.
Absence/weakness/ambiguity of PR reduces poverty indicators on some domains.