PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Man Li AU - JunJie Wu AU - Xiangzheng Deng TI - Identifying Drivers of Land Use Change in China: A Spatial Multinomial Logit Model Analysis AID - 10.3368/le.89.4.632 DP - 2013 Nov 01 TA - Land Economics PG - 632--654 VI - 89 IP - 4 4099 - http://le.uwpress.org/content/89/4/632.short 4100 - http://le.uwpress.org/content/89/4/632.full SO - Land Econ2013 Nov 01; 89 AB - This paper presents an empirical analysis of major drivers of land use change in China from 1988 to 2005. We compile a geographic information system database and develop a new method to estimate an econometric land use model that explicitly takes into account the spatial interactions between land use decisions. Results indicate that increasing urban land value was a major driver of farmland development, while rising rural income was a primary driver of conversion of farmland to forests and grassland. The growth of urban income and road density reduces grassland conversion but increases deforestation. (JEL Q15, R14)