Land expropriation compensation among multiple stakeholders in a mining area: explaining “skeleton house” compensation

House demolition compensation in mining areas in China is determined by house size. This has led farmers to engage in “skeleton house” construction, namely, building simple structures that can increase the compensation obtained following land expropriation. While compensation standards and social security for land-expropriated farmers has received some research attention, investigations are yet to consider this challenge from different stakeholder perspectives. Clearly identifying the interests and interactive relationships of each group offers potential to deliver positive outcomes for all stakeholders and for the environment. This paper targets this gap using document analysis alongside semi-structured interviews with the Pingshou China Coal Corporation (PCCC), Pinglu District Government (PDG) and land-expropriated farmers in Shanxi Province in Northwest China, identifying reasons for and potential solutions to, the phenomenon of skeleton house construction. Novel application of the DPSIR (driving forces-pressures-statuses-impacts-responses) framework as a structuring tool for our analysis provides important insight into how the emerging situation has arisen and helps to identify potential countermeasures. There are many differences among the perspectives of the three stakeholder groups, and all are responsible for the phenomenon of skeleton houses. PCCC should follow different production routes to reduce their costs and the impacts on farmers. District Government should shift from a coping position (dealing with negative impacts from the coal industry) towards actively shaping coal industry development, thus reducing its negative impacts on wider society. Land-expropriated farmers should actively participate in meaningful discussions to assist PCCC and PDG to make reasonable and considerate compensation standards and social security policies.