Is high-tech zone a policy trap or a growth drive? Insights from the perspective of urban land use efficiency

Xinhai Lu, Danling Chen, Bing Kuang, Chaozheng Zhang and Chen Cheng

Land Use Policy, 2020, vol. 95, issue C

Abstract: The increasing number of national high-tech zones (NHTZs) in China has triggered significant changes in land use. Several researchers argued that urban land use efficiency (ULUE) may decrease, due to the so-called “development zone fever”. However, using a super-efficient Slacks-based measure (SBM) model and the Double-difference model, we found that, from the perspectives of scale, factor accumulation, and agglomeration effects, NHTZs policies had a positive impact on ULUE in 285 Chinese cities in the period 2003–2016. In addition, the net effects of NHTZs policies on ULUE were 1.13 % in eastern cities, 0.38 % in central cities, and 0.19 % in western cities. Furthermore, different regions experienced differential impacts from economic development, urbanization level, industrial structure, population, foreign direct investment (FDI), and land marketization. A further empirical test found that the cumulative impacts of NHTZs policies on ULUE are related to both quantity and time. Among these, NHTZs growth time had the highest positive impact on ULUE. This study provides empirical justification for the establishment of NHTZs in China.

Keywords: NHTZs policies; Urban land use efficiency; Double-difference model; 285 Chinese cities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:95:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719305599

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104583

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