关键词: 行政区划调整, 土地运营, 多期双重差分, 长三角地区

Abstract:

With rapid urbanization, administrative zoning adjustment has become an important means for local governments to promote urban development. The adjustment brings rapid expansion of land elements for core urban areas. Would the local government strengthen the land operation with adjusted zoning to attract investment and financing? The micro-transaction data of land transfer in the adjusted areas in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2007 to 2018 were taken as samples. The methods used include multi-stage Difference in Difference and Triple Difference models. On the basis of controlling urban economic and land parcel characteristics, this paper discusses whether the administrative division adjustment has strengthened the land operation degree in the adjusted area. The results show that: 1) compared with the areas without administrative zoning adjustment, the price of industrial land in the adjusted areas reduced by a significant 14.6%, and the transferred area of industrial land increased by a remarkable 61.5%. The transfer price of residential and commercial land increased by 13.3% and 6.9%, respectively, and their total transfer expense rose by 25%. The empirical results show that administrative zoning adjustment strengthens the operation of land transfers in the adjusted areas, and shifts more industrial land at a lower price to attract investment and commercial and residential land at a higher price for more "land finance." 2) In the first five years after the administrative zoning adjustment, land price increased significantly, but the policy effect was not substantial after five years, indicating that the strengthening of land operation had a short-term effect. 3) Because of the difficulties in regional integration, different types of administrative zoning adjustments inflate land prices to varied degrees. Compared with "consolidation of municipal districts" and "adjustment of the scope of municipal districts," "withdrawal of cities (counties) to set up districts" has a lower impact on land price. This paper aims to reveal the land transmission mechanism behind the performance of administrative zoning adjustment policy, and provide new empirical evidence for the evaluation of administrative zoning adjustment in China, starting from the role of local governments and using the micro-transaction data of land transfer.

Key words: administrative zoning adjustment, land operation, multistage difference-in-difference, the Yangtze River Delta Region