How collectively owned operating construction land marketization affects rural industrial convergence: Empirical evidence from a rural land institutional reform in China

Promoting rural industrial convergence (RIC) through rural land institutional reform has been an essential objective for comprehensive rural revitalization and sustainable rural development. Since 2015, China has implemented the trial reform of collectively owned operating construction land (COCL) marketization. However, how COCL marketization reform affects RIC has not been examined through systematic empirical studies. Based on theoretical mechanisms of the link between COCL marketization and RIC, and employing the difference in differences model, this study quantitatively demonstrates the impact of COCL marketization reform on different types of RIC using the data of 52 counties in China from 2010 to 2019. The results indicate that RIC shows an increasing trend from 2010 to 2019, and there is considerable variability across China. The reform of COCL marketization has heterogeneous effects on different types of RIC. Specifically, the reform significantly contributes to agricultural industry chain extension and agricultural multi-functionality expansion. In addition, COCL marketization reform restructures the revenue distribution of rural stakeholders and optimizes the spatial layout of rural construction land, which provides potential financial support and centralized land layouts for the development of RIC. Therefore, the study suggests that China should strengthen the advancement efforts for the entry of COCL into the market, and pay attention to optimizing the revenue distribution of rural stakeholders and the spatial layout of land in this process. This study fills the research gap in understanding the mechanisms of how COCL marketization affects RIC, which promotes the reform of rural land marketization in comprehensive rural revitalization and sustainable rural development.