How the Marketization of Land Transfer under the Constraint of Dual Goals Affects the High-Quality Development of Urban Economy: Empirical Evidence from 278 Prefecture-Level Cities in China

As an important part of comprehensively implementing the new development concept and accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, the market-oriented allocation of land elements plays an important role in promoting high-quality economic development. This paper first constructs a theoretical model of the multi-channel impact of land transfer marketization on the high-quality development of urban economy under the framework of two departments and reveals the impact of land transfer marketization on the high-quality development of urban economy from the theoretical mechanism. Secondly, taking the panel data of China’s prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2020 as a research sample, the proportion of land bidding, auctioning, and listing area in the total area of land transfer was used to measure the marketization level of land transfer in prefecture-level cities, and the high-quality development of urban economy was measured by drawing on the regional development and people’s livelihood index released by authoritative institutions, and the impact and mechanism of land transfer marketization on the high-quality development of urban economy were analyzed based on multiple measurement models and multi-dimensional empirical analysis. Finally, the paper constructs a moderating effect model to investigate the role of economic growth target constraints and environmental target constraints on the relationship between the two. The study found that: (1) There is a significant U-shaped nonlinear relationship between the marketization of land transfer and the high-quality development of urban economy. When the market-oriented development of land transfer is at a low level, it will inhibit the high-quality development of the urban economy. With the gradual improvement of the level of market-oriented development of land transfer, it will promote the high-quality development of the urban economy. (2) The dual goal constraint plays a significant regulatory role in the relationship between the marketization of land transfer and the high-quality development of the urban economy. Instead of moderate economic growth targets constraining the positive adjustment of the impact of land transfer marketization on the high-quality development of urban economies, strict environmental target constraints are more conducive to strengthening the high-quality economic development effect of land transfer marketization. (3) There are obvious heterogeneities in the impact of land transfer marketization on the high-quality development of urban economy in terms of urban location, urban scale, urban resource endowments, and the characteristics of the city itself. Based on this, it is proposed to deepen the market-oriented reform of land elements and give full play to the high-quality economic and development effect of land transfer marketization, explore the combination of scientific and reasonable economic growth goals and environmental target constraints, and give play to the positive role of dual target constraints in promoting the high-quality development of urban economy in the marketization of land transfer. According to the objective facts that the characteristics of the city itself are quite different, the market-oriented development of land transfer is scientifically released according to local conditions and brings about high-quality development effects.