IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i3p618-d1612584.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Promoting or Inhibiting? The Impact of Urban Land Marketization on Carbon Emissions in China

Author

Listed:
  • Junwen Li

    (College of Economics and Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China)

  • Shangpu Li

    (College of Economics and Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China)

Abstract

Urban land marketization is a strategy to alleviate land resource misallocation caused by government intervention, but there has been a debate regarding its effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions. This study examines the impact of market-oriented allocation of land resources on carbon emissions using panel data from 284 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2021. The results indicate four findings: (1) Urban land marketization can effectively reduce both the total carbon emission and carbon emission intensity, especially in the central and western cities, non-provincial capital cities, and resource-dependent cities. (2) Promoting land financing, expanding trade openness, and stimulating entrepreneurship are all significant mechanisms for the carbon emission reduction effect of urban land marketization. (3) As per capita income and environmental regulation increase, the impacts of land marketization on carbon emissions are nonlinear. (4) Surrounding cities’ carbon emissions are not mitigated due to administrative border barriers and regional protectionism. This paper sheds light on the role of land marketization in carbon emission reduction and thus provides practical policy implications for promoting economic transition and low-carbon development.

Suggested Citation

  • Junwen Li & Shangpu Li, 2025. "Promoting or Inhibiting? The Impact of Urban Land Marketization on Carbon Emissions in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:618-:d:1612584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/618/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/618/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    2. Zhao, Xiaoli & Yin, Haitao & Zhao, Yue, 2015. "Impact of environmental regulations on the efficiency and CO2 emissions of power plants in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 238-247.
    3. Reppelin-Hill, Valerie, 1999. "Trade and Environment: An Empirical Analysis of the Technology Effect in the Steel Industry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 283-301, November.
    4. Tinghui Li & Jiehua Ma & Bin Mo, 2021. "Does the Land Market Have an Impact on Green Total Factor Productivity? A Case Study on China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zheng, Xian, 2020. "Land use regulation and urban land value: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    6. Xi, Qiangmin & Mei, Lin, 2022. "How did development zones affect China’s land transfers? The scale, marketization, and resource allocation effect," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. Lu, Xin-hai & Jiang, Xu & Gong, Meng-qi, 2020. "How land transfer marketization influence on green total factor productivity from the approach of industrial structure? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Shiguang Peng & Le Wang & Lei Xu, 2023. "Impact of the Marketization of Industrial Land Transfer on Regional Carbon Emission Intensity: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, April.
    9. Lu, Shenghua & Wang, Hui, 2022. "Market-oriented reform and land use efficiency: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    10. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2010. "The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 404-418, May.
    11. Zhou, Di & Huang, Qing & Chong, Zhaohui, 2022. "Analysis on the effect and mechanism of land misallocation on carbon emissions efficiency: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    12. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Adnan Hye, Qazi Muhammad, 2013. "The environmental Kuznets curve and the role of coal consumption in India: Cointegration and causality analysis in an open economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 519-527.
    13. Aihui Ma & Yaya He & Peng Tang, 2021. "Understanding the Impact of Land Resource Misallocation on Carbon Emissions in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    14. Xie, Rui & Yao, Siling & Han, Feng & Zhang, Qi, 2022. "Does misallocation of land resources reduce urban green total factor productivity? An analysis of city-level panel data in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    15. Yuan, Huaxi & Feng, Yidai & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Cen, Yan, 2020. "How does manufacturing agglomeration affect green economic efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Cheng, Yudan & Jia, Shanghui & Meng, Huan, 2022. "Fiscal policy choices of local governments in China: Land finance or local government debt?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 294-308.
    17. Ozcan, Burcu, 2013. "The nexus between carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Middle East countries: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1138-1147.
    18. Hansen, Bruce E., 1999. "Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 345-368, December.
    19. Jean-Paul Chavas, 2004. "On Impatience, Economic Growth and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Dynamic Analysis of Resource Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 28(2), pages 123-152, June.
    20. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasreen, Samia & Ahmed, Khalid & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2017. "Trade openness–carbon emissions nexus: The importance of turning points of trade openness for country panels," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 221-232.
    21. Longji Zeng & Yuandi Wang & Yajuan Deng, 2022. "How Land Transactions Affect Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, May.
    22. Fan, Xin & Qiu, Sainan & Sun, Yukun, 2020. "Land finance dependence and urban land marketization in China: The perspective of strategic choice of local governments on land transfer," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    23. J. Paul Elhorst, 2014. "Matlab Software for Spatial Panels," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 37(3), pages 389-405, July.
    24. Barbera, Anthony J. & McConnell, Virginia D., 1990. "The impact of environmental regulations on industry productivity: Direct and indirect effects," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 50-65, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yanjun Yang & Yang Yu, 2025. "How does the marketization of urban land transfer reduce carbon emissions? Insights from China," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 2081-2096, May.
    2. Gao, Feng & Lin, Yijie & Zhang, Xuanming & Li, Shanhong & Lv, Yanqin, 2023. "Interconnectedness between land resource misallocation and environmental pollution: Exploring the sustainable development potential in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    3. Tao Ding & Yueqi Zhang & Peng Zhou & Xin Zhao, 2025. "Local government competition, decision‐making behavior, and green land use total factor productivity: Evidence from cities in China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2029-2043, June.
    4. Wang, Changming & Liao, Hongwei & Zhu, Lei & He, Leihua, 2024. "The haze reduction effect in china under the digital economy," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Kangyin Dong & Xiucheng Dong & Qingzhe Jiang, 2020. "How renewable energy consumption lower global CO2 emissions? Evidence from countries with different income levels," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1665-1698, June.
    6. Min Chen & Longji Zeng & Yajuan Deng & Shan Chen & Xin Gu, 2024. "The Impact of Land Marketization on Urban Resilience: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-24, August.
    7. Wen Zhong & Minggui Zheng, 2022. "How the Marketization of Land Transfer Affects High-Quality Economic Development: Empirical Evidence from 284 Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, October.
    8. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Kumar, Mantu, 2017. "Is Globalization Detrimental to CO2 Emissions in Japan? New Threshold Analysis," MPRA Paper 82413, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Nov 2017.
    9. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    10. Gideon Kwaku Minua Ampofo & Jinhua Cheng & Edwin Twum Ayimadu & Daniel Akwasi Asante, 2021. "Investigating the Asymmetric Effect of Economic Growth on Environmental Quality in the Next 11 Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-29, January.
    11. Bouznit, Mohammed & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2016. "CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 93-104.
    12. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Gloria Claudio-Quiroga & Luis A. Gil-Alana, 2019. "CO2 Emissions and GDP: Evidence from China," CESifo Working Paper Series 7881, CESifo.
    13. Fei Bao & Zhenzhi Zhao, 2022. "“Takeover” and “Activation” Effects of National Strategies for Industrial Relocation—Based on the Perspective of Marketisation of Land Elements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    14. Junwei Ma & Jianhua Wang & Philip Szmedra, 2020. "Does Environmental Innovation Improve Environmental Productivity?—An Empirical Study Based on the Spatial Panel Data Model of Chinese Urban Agglomerations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    16. Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2019. "Globalization-Emissions Nexus: Testing the EKC hypothesis in Next-11 Countries," MPRA Paper 93959, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 May 2019.
    17. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    18. Huasheng Song & Guili Sun, 2022. "Investment Promotion, Tax Competition, and Industrial Land Price in China—Evidence from the Corporate Tax Collection Reform," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    19. Yang Yu & Yiming Du, 2025. "Does ICT change the relationship between trade openness and CO2 emissions? Evidence for RCEP countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 857-879, January.
    20. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:618-:d:1612584. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.