Mechanism Of Regional Economic Integration On Urban Land Efficiency

With the rapid development of regional economy,the rapid expansion of urbanization and industrial agglomeration have promoted the demands for urban land.However,it also has caused many land use problems,which could threaten China’s ecological protection and food security.Therefore,how to enhance urban land’s rational allocation and the efficiency of urban land has been widely concerned by the government and scholars.The Chinese government has proposed the optimization of land space.Specifically,according to the resource endowment and the capacity of regional resources and environment,different land function categories are classified based on the land function zones,aiming at promoting land coordinated development.As the basic geographic unit of regional economic development in China,urban agglomerations cannot ignore the differences in economic development within the region and the regional economic integration,such as the production resources flow’s impact on urban land use efficiency.Therefore,this paper takes the reform pilot area,“resource-saving and environment-friendly society”—Wuhan metropolitan area,as the research area,and further studies the spatial and temporal differences of urban land use efficiency based on the land functional zones during 2001-2015.Then,we try to figure out if the regional economic integration can promote the regional urban land efficiency and achieve regional balanced development.Firstly,this paper focuses on constructing a theoretical analysis framework for regional economic integration and urban land efficiency change,and further constructs a theoretical operational mechanism for the difference between adjacent development zones and urban land efficiency based on the land functional zones.At the same time,considering the construction of the "two-type society” in Wuhan metropolitan area as an important policy for regional economic integration,it also constructs the theoretical framework for the construction of the " two-type society” pilot area and the change of urban land efficiency.They provide the theoretical foundation for our following empirical research.Secondly,the spatial and temporal change of urban land efficiency at county level and the differences in the land functional zones are studied.The research results show that the urban land efficiency of Wuhan metropolitan area is relatively low,and most counties have different levels of excessive inputs.The overall economic efficiency has been rising.Besides,the efficiency values across countries are highly spatially auto-correlated and exhibit clustering patterns and variation in in land functional zones.The core development is higher and grows faster than the restricted development zones.Thus,the difference in efficiency indicates that the uneven regional development of urban land use in Wuhan metropolitan area is mainly due to the variation in production technology and management.Further,comparing the total factor productivity(TFP)changes before and after the implementation of the "two-type society” pilot area,it can be seen that this policy has promoted the growth of TFP to a certain extent.Thirdly,by using the spatial regression model,the implementation of the "two-type society” pilot area can significantly promote the TFP growth of urban land,and the structural adjustment of the input factors before and after the policy has been greatly changed in counties.The marginal effect of land use and labor investment on TFP growth has increased substantially,especially in core development zones.On the other hand,this policy effect can further narrow the gap in the TFP growth rate of urban land among counties,that is,to promote its convergence.Especially in the post-policy period,the convergence rate is faster,indicating that policy of " two-type society” pilot area is conducive to the rational adjustment of production factor resources,and promote the regional balanced development.Fourthly,by measuring the regional economic linkages among counties in Wuhan metropolitan area,it is known that the average value of the total external economic linkages has increased steadily,especially in the post-policy period.However,the total external economic linkages also show obvious hierarchical characteristics,which gradually decrease from the center of Wuhan metropolitan area to the periphery.The average values during the study period of Wuhan City increase the fastest,and the external economic linkages are mainly limited to the interior of Wuhan City.The result indicates the dominant position of Wuhan City in Wuhan Metropolitan Area,and its economic ties with other areas gradually weaken with the increase of distance.Then,by using the spatial durbin model to measure the spatial spillover effects of urban land efficiency in Wuhan metropolitan area,it can be seen that the strengthening of regional economic linkages can significantly improve urban land efficiency,and its spatial spillover effect is significantly positive,especially in the core development zones.This means that the flow of factor resources and the strengthening of economic exchange activities among counties can be conducive to promoting the intensive use of urban land and the rational allocation of resources,thereby improving the efficiency of urban land.Then,the upgrading of industrial structure can significantly increase the urban land efficiency,but its spatial spillover effect is significantly negative.It shows that economically developed regions with advanced technologies may attract production resources such as labor and capital investment form the surrounding areas.However,in the core development zones,urban land efficiency in their surrounding areas can be improved by their technical and financial support.Finally,the urban land efficiency is analyzed with undesirable output at the city level.Its mean value is slightly lower than the average value of efficiency without considering the undesired output,indicating that the measurement of urban land efficiency ignores the ecological negative in the process of urban land use.The effect will lead to an overestimation of efficiency,which is mainly due to the reduction in scale efficiency after considering environmental pollution.By comparing the efficiency coefficient of variation between county and city level at each year,it can be found that the regional gap between the counties is more obvious.Therefore,it is more meaningful to study the urban land efficiency at the county level.Further,through the spatial regression model,the urban land efficiency with undesirable output is more convergent than without undesirable output;the greater total external economic linkages of the cities in Wuhan metropolitan area,the lower growth rate of urban land efficiency,especially after considering the undesirable output.