Study On Efficiency Of Rural-urban Land Conversion

Since the reform and opening, China's urbanization level has increased a lot because of development of social economy which is characterized as the engine of urbanization. However, the current development mode is an extension growth pattern and cities' development is based on the expansion of scale, which is inevitable to force the land use convert from cultivation to construction in urban border areas. Rural-urban land conversion is not only a change of land use but also a reallocation of rural land. Since the quantity of land resources is limited and land benefits vary among different land uses, the competition between agricultural and construction land is serious. Under the theoretical framework of resource efficient allocation, optimal temporal and spatial land use can be attained.It is critical of increasing the efficiency of land use production and allocation within the theory framework of efficient resource allocation for the sustainable development of both region and whole country. The increase of land use efficiency could be realized by choosing a suitable use and allocating well both in time and space for a certain area. Therefore, the research on rural-urban land conversion efficiency and how to avoid excessive conversion are very important and necessary.This dissertation r estimated the efficiency of rural-urban land conversion in different regions based on the factor productivity theory and the productivity measurement theory. The method of DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and the model of translog production function were employed in this paper. Four main issues were dealt with d in this dissertation:(1) Building the land resource allocation framework of rural-urban land conversion. The framework targeted at realizing the efficient allocation of land resources in order to maximize the output benefit within certain resources or minimize resource to achieve a given output goal. This dissertation also discussed several patterns of land resources allocation under the hypothesis of complete competitive market and planned market. It also identified different characters of market-oriented allocation and government-oriented allocation and measured theefficiency loss.(2) Evaluating rural-urban land conversion efficiency using total factor productivity. This disseation calculated29provincial rural-urban land conversion efficiency in China during the period of1989to2008and analyzed the temporal and spatial change. After testing β and σ-convergence of conversion efficiency, we analyzed the relative influencing factors of total factor productivity at various spatial weights using spatial panel data econometric model.(3) Analyzing policy factors influencing rural-urban land conversion efficiency. A model which could identify policy influence on rural-urban land conversion efficiency was designed in this dissertation. What's more, this model was used to analyze the policy influence on rural-urban land conversion of29districts in empirical study, and the optimal principle and path are put forward after analysis.(4) Quantifying the efficiency loss of rural-urban land conversion based on external benefit and option value theory. This paper successfully estimate the change in rural-urban land conversion scale with external benefit of agricultural land by calculating the substitution elasticity among land, natural resource and labor force using the translog production function model. Consideringthe uncertainty, irreversibility and investment time flexibility, we put option value of agricultural land into the model when evaluating the loss of value causing by rural-urban land conversion in Wuhan.Results concluded in this paper are as follows:The convergence trend of rural-urban land conversion efficiency exists among regions. During the period of1989to2008, the total factor productivity of rural-urban land conversion was decreased but the speed was slow down year by year, even stared to grow in recent years. The average total factor productivity of rural-urban land conversion does not reach to the efficiency frontier. According to our calculation, the total factor productivity of rural-urban land conversion are1.001in eastern China,0.966in western China, and0.960in central China. In the view of national rural-urban land conversion efficiency, β and α-convergent (not significant) are all existed, which means the efficiency gap among China is narrowed year by year. In the view of regional rural-urban land conversion efficiency, the convergent trend exists in all regions but the convergent speed is various among them. According to the calculation, eastern China has the fastest convergent speed while western China has the lowest speed.The rural-urban land conversion efficiency varies a lot among different policies. Three-stage DEA model is employed in the empirical research on rural-urban land conversion efficiency, in which influencing factors which are objective are engaged in. The result shows that the impact of policies on technical efficiency is significant in all regions of China, especially in western China. During the period of1999to2008, the technical efficiency in rural-urban land conversion varies a lot among regions. Eastern China has the highest technical efficiency level while western China has the lowest level in empirical study.The external benefit of agricultural land is one of the reasons for low allocation efficiency. Since both social and ecological returns of arable land have the character of positive externalities, part of them may loss after conversion. However, this loss is not considered in both production function model and land demand model based on manufacturers pricing conditions. Therefore, this paper takes the external benefit of rural land into the evaluate model to estimate the rational urban construction. According to the calculation basing on translog production function, three top factors contribute to economic development are labor force, capital and the scale of construction land respectively. In the view of output elasticity, the labor force has the largest elasticity, while the scale of construction land has the lowest elasticity. In the light of substitution elasticity, it varies little among three factors. After calculation, this dissertation concludes that the excessive loss exists in the current rural-urban land conversion.The option value of rural land is another reason for low allocation efficiency. The total costs in rural-urban land conversion decision-making must include land acquisition cost, land development cost, use value of agricultural land and option value of arable land, which is the key for scientific decision making including both optimal land conversion scale and timing. Urban area expandsion may be accelerated if the option value of agricultural land is ignored, which is harmful for land sustainable use.