RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Identifying Drivers of Land Use Change in China: A Spatial Multinomial Logit Model Analysis
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 632
OP 654
DO 10.3368/le.89.4.632
VO 89
IS 4
A1 Man Li
A1 JunJie Wu
A1 Xiangzheng Deng
YR 2013
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/89/4/632.abstract
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)