Exploring the effects of market-oriented reforms on industrial land use eco-efficiency in China: Evidence from a spatial and non-linear analysis

The abundant supply of industrial land has played an important role in China's large-scale urbanization and industrialization. A large amount of industrial land is characterized by low-efficiency use and high industrial-pollution emissions. To improve industrial land use eco-efficiency (ILUE), the Chinese government is continuously strengthening the market-oriented reforms of industrial land transactions. Different from previous studies that assess the effectiveness of such an effort based on non-spatial and linear perspectives, this study explores the spatial and non-linear effects of the market-oriented reforms on ILUE, using data of 99 cities in China collected from 2009 to 2020. We evaluate the market-oriented reforms with two indicators of industrial land premium rate (ILPR) and the ratio of bidding, auction, and listing (RBAL) in industrial land transactions, then measure the spatial and non-linear effects using the spatial panel data model. The results show that the rising ILPR in adjacent cities negatively affected local ILUE, but the RBAL had no obvious spatial effects. The relationship between ILPR and ILUE showed a U-shaped curve; that between RBAL and ILUE was an inverted U-shape. The effects were heterogeneous across regions. The rising ILPR of adjacent cities positively affected local ILUE in the east, while negatively in the central region. The increasing RBAL had no noticeable spatial effects except in the central region. The western region did not show significant spatial effects. The relationships between ILUE and the two indicators showed U-shaped curves of different shapes in the three regions. The findings help to improve future ILUE by managing the industrial land markets in better ways.