MARKETIZATION AND RESOURCE MISMATCHES: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA’S LAND RESOURCE ALLOCATION

The factor market is the focus of China’s reform in recent years, especially the land market reform, which is related to the prosperity and stability of the economy. As China proposes to build “a unified national market”, studying the relationship between marketization and land resource allocation has become an important part of China’s land resource protection. Data on land grants from 285 Chinese cities between 2007 and 2019 were utilized in this study. The difference in land grant prices for different uses is employed to measure the land resource mismatch (LRM). The two-stage least squares method and dynamic panel threshold model were used to analyze the impact of marketization on LRM. The main findings of the research are that marketization can effectively reduce LRM, and this conclusion is still robust after accounting for the endogenous bias. The impact of marketization on LRM is heterogeneous at the regional and urban scales, and the impact of marketization is more obvious in the eastern and central regions. Compared with small- and medium-sized cities, marketization also plays a more obvious role in correcting LRM in large cities. The impact of marketization on LRM is also influenced by the industrial structure, real estate investment, and the level of informatization. Finally, specific measures to alleviate LRM through marketization are proposed.