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[Objective] Industrial agglomeration is the result of coordinated urban division of labor and is an important factor in promoting the high-quality development of urban agglomerations. Analyzing the effect of industrial agglomeration on the efficiency of productive land allocation in cities provides valuable insights for optimizing resource allocation in urban agglomerations. [Methods] Based on urban economic theory, this study first constructed the theoretical framework of “industrial agglomeration-production improvement-land use allocation efficiency” to explain how industrial agglomeration affects land allocation efficiency. Panel data from 128 prefecture-level cities in China’s nine national-level urban agglomerations from 2009 to 2018 were used to calculate the efficiency of productive land allocation using a super slack-based measure of efficiency data envelopment analysis (Super-SBM DEA) model. The empirical analysis examined the relationship between land allocation efficiency and the level of industrial agglomeration, and analyzed the differences and mechanisms of its effects from the perspectives of regional classification effects and industrial agglomeration characteristics. [Results] The study found the following: (1) During the research period, the efficiency of productive land allocation in the urban agglomerations of China showed an evolving trend of increase-decrease-increase, with spatial differences roughly characterized by an upward trend in the eastern and northeastern regions, stable trend in the central region, and downward trend in the western region. (2) The level of industrial agglomeration has a significant positive impact on the improvement of land allocation efficiency for productive use. (3) The promoting effect of industrial agglomeration on land allocation efficiency for productive use diminishes with the increase in economic development level. (4) Diversified industrial agglomeration have a positive promoting effect. [Conclusion] Therefore, optimizing the industrial development pattern of Chinese urban agglomerations requires differentiated policy improvements that align with the characteristics of urban agglomeration development. This includes strengthening the allocation of resources to industrial agglomerations, adjusting resource allocation towards advantageous areas, and innovating regional industrial structures to foster regional cooperation. Strengthening the coordination of regional resource allocation in urban agglomerations and further improving the efficiency of land allocation for productive use will contribute to achieving sustainable social and economic development.

[Objective] In order to solve the problem of extensive land use and low-efficiency idle land, the differential collection policy of land use tax has been explored in China since 2014. Through the adjustment of land taxation, this policy aimed primarily to guide land users in improving the efficiency of stock land use. There has been an increasing number of cities that have begun to explore the implementation of differentiated urban land use tax policy. This policy represents an innovative macro-control tool to enhance the efficiency of urban land use, but its practical effects have yet to be determined. This study investigated the impact of differential tax policy of urban land use on the efficiency of industrial land use and explained how this policy was implemented. [Methods] In this study, the differential tax policy of urban land use is viewed as a “quasi-natural experiment”. Based on the panel data of 277 prefecture-level and above cities across the country from 2009 to 2019, the impact of this policy on the efficiency of industrial land use was explored with the help of a multi-period difference-in-differences (multi-period DID) model. This study also used heterogeneity analysis to examine the impact of different collection methods on the efficiency of industrial land use. The mediation effect model was used to further verify the impact mechanism of the policy on the efficiency of industrial land use. [Results] The differential tax policy of urban land use can significantly enhance the efficiency of industrial land use. Robustness tests confirm that the results of the study are valid. Heterogeneity analysis indicated that the positive effects of the policy on the efficiency of industrial land use were more pronounced under the tax relief mode than under the post-expropriation return mode. Furthermore, the analysis of the impact mechanism indicated that the policy primarily improved the efficiency of industrial land use by promoting technological innovation and adjusting the industrial structure. [Conclusion] The multi-period DID model can be useful for objectively analyzing the effects of differential urban land use tax policies on industrial land use efficiency. The innovative approach to urban land use taxation has great significance for optimizing the allocation of industrial land in urban stock and promoting land use that is economically and intensively productive.

Land use efficiency is an indicator that measures the level of regional land resource allocation and optimization. The influence of policies tends to lead to the restructuring of regional land use and allocation in urban agglomerations, and the degree of optimization in land use efficiency has become a critical component in evaluating policy performance. In light of this, it is particularly necessary to clarify the theoretical relationship between the establishment of urban agglomerations and land use efficiency and to understand their underlying mechanisms. Additionally, it is particularly important to summarize the spatial differentiation of their effects. This study constructed a theoretical analysis framework to investigate the impact of urban agglomeration establishment on land use efficiency, deriving from the policy pathways of establishing urban agglomerations. It also explored the mediating roles of public service supply, industrial agglomeration, and technological innovation, as well as the moderating effects of geographical, institutional, and economic disparities. Building upon this foundation, the approval and implementation of national-level urban agglomeration planning were treated as a quasinatural experiment for further investigation. Based on the panel data of 244 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2009 to 2020, this study used a staggered difference-in-differences model to empirically test the impact of establishing urban agglomerations on land use efficiency. In addition, the mediating effects were tested based on three types of pathways, and heterogeneity effects were examined using a 'center-periphery' approach with multiple types of spatial distances to analyze the mechanisms of influence. The study findings were as follows: (1) The establishment of urban agglomerations had a significant and positive impact on land use efficiency, and this effect continued and was strengthened after the establishment of national-level urban agglomerations. (2) The impact of establishing national-level urban agglomerations on land use efficiency was mediated by three factors: public service provision, industrial agglomeration, and technological innovation. However, after adjusting for policy timing, only the mediating effects of industrial agglomeration and technological innovation remained, and their effects were consistent with the establishment of national-level urban agglomerations. (3) The promotion of land use efficiency by national-level urban agglomerations exhibited spatial heterogeneity, with the effect being slightly suppressed as geographic and institutional distances increased. After adjusting for policy timing, this promoting effect was shown to exhibit spatial heterogeneity, being slightly suppressed only with increasing economic distances. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are made to further strengthen regional public investment through the allocation of resources in urban clusters, align industrial agglomeration and technological innovation with rational industry layout and division of labor, and enhance regional institutional reforms and integration to achieve regional balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, interest in community forest management (CFM) has steadily increased over the last decade. Based on the extended political institutional analysis and development (P-IAD) framework, this paper analyzes the Chinese CFM system by combining the political-economic context, rules-in-use, and discourses to show alternative co-management practices. We find that CFM is rooted in national-level development strategies, embedded government-society relationships, and social development claims. This governance structure determines that the public sector guides the development and utilization directions of forest resources based on development planning and national discourses, while community leaders serve both villagers and the public sector. Over the course of development, this co-management system undergoes dynamic adjustments and gradually fulfills the evaluative criteria, including employing varied institutions, ordinary rules, and cross-scale connections. Compared with the previous co-management system, the current system presents the features of national layer penetration, continuous power coordination, and development orientation. The experience of Chinese CFM shows that scholars should focus on the impact of national-level macro strategies and social construction on natural resource management, not just cooperation between civilian agencies and the community. The findings provide developing countries with new thoughts for designing natural resource management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dilemma of aging and lack of successors must be understood to improve the scale efficiency and competitiveness of China's agriculture. This paper uses a survey of 1347 farmers in Liaoning, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi and applies tobit and probit models to explore the impact of intergenerational inheritance on farmland management in terms of the current scale and willingness for expansion. The results show that (1) an increased probability of intergenerational inheritance in agriculture can significantly increase the scale of farmland operations, with a greater effect on the current scale than on the willingness to expand; (2) the scale upgrading effect of agricultural intergenerational inheritance is greater in regions with frequent nonagricultural activities and in families with middle or low-scale farmland operations; and (3) the promotion effect on the current scale is greater for elderly farmers 60 years old or above than for farmers who are 40–59 years old, while the promotion effect on the willingness for expansion exists only for the latter. Therefore, policies should attract young, skilled laborers to return to their hometowns for agricultural employment and entrepreneurship and support farmland transfer and scale operation in regions with frequent nonagricultural activities or a lower scale of agricultural operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify the mechanisms through which land tenure governance affects the technical efficiency of grain production in an integrated framework and to examine the impacts of the public governance, village self-governance, and relational governance of land tenure on the technical efficiency of contracted land and rented-in land. Farm-level survey data collected from Liaoning, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu provinces covering the years of 2014 and 2015 is used for the empirical analysis. The findings indicate that (i) public governance associated with land certification significantly increases the technical efficiency of grain production; (ii) village self-governance and administrative land reallocations can serve as substitutes for the land rental market in optimizing the distribution of land resources and improving technical efficiency; and (iii) compared to multi-year transfer contracts, both annual and open-ended transfer contracts have negative impacts on technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of land tenure security perceptions on rural-urban migration decisions of rural households, using data collected in Minle County in Northwest China. We find that tenure security perceptions play a significant role in household migration decisions in villages without well-functioning land rental markets but not in villages where the land rental markets are more developed. In villages with underdeveloped land rental markets, households that expect that no land reallocations will occur within their village in the near future are less involved in migration, while households that attach a greater importance to land certificates in protecting land use rights are more involved in migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]