How Land Finance Affects Green Economic Growth in Chinese Cities

Abstract

Land finance is an important means for local governments to develop a regional economy. Studying the impact of land finance on green economic growth has important practical significance for achieving high-quality economic growth in China. This article uses panel data from 283 prefecture-level cities in China to construct a spatial econometric model to study the impact of land finance on green economic growth. The research results show that land finance has a significant inhibitory effect on the growth of the green economy. The direct, indirect and total effects of land finance on green economic growth are all significantly negative, which indicates that the local government’s method of making up for the financial funding gap through land finance not only inhibited the green economic growth in the region, but also had an impact on neighboring areas. Local government competition has a regulating effect on the impact of land finance and urban green economic growth, and government competition has actually strengthened the inhibitory effect of land finance on green economic growth. The above conclusions can provide useful practical guidance for optimizing the development of land finance, standardizing local government behavior, and promoting green economic growth.