TY - JOUR T1 - Identifying Drivers of Land Use Change in China: A Spatial Multinomial Logit Model Analysis JF - Land Economics JO - Land Econ SP - 632 LP - 654 DO - 10.3368/le.89.4.632 VL - 89 IS - 4 AU - Man Li AU - JunJie Wu AU - Xiangzheng Deng Y1 - 2013/11/01 UR - http://le.uwpress.org/content/89/4/632.abstract N2 - 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) ER -