Development of industrial lands and influencing factors towards new economic strategies in China——Analysis based on panel regressions

Industrial lands in China deserve new investigation as China is transferring from the high-speed development mode into new normal economy stage. We measured the development of industrial lands in China in the past two decades. Using urban industrial-construction proportion and location quotient for industrial lands (LQ) as indicators, we found that: (1) Industrial lands were generally growing slower than construction lands, and the national proportion decreased to about 20%; (2) Hot spot provinces, with a LQ above 1, and hot spot capital cities, with a proportion above 20%, were concentrating to eastern regions. After building panel data based on 25 capital cities in 6 years that cover the past two decades, we conducted regressions in different regions and periods. Generally, economic development was significantly and strongly influential to proportions. Industry structures in terms of both second and tertiary industry show negative relationships in the second decade. Industrial land prices were positive related to proportions in eastern regions but negative related in central and western China. Unexpected findings include the negative coefficient of foreign investment and fiscal expenditures on technology and education. Our study provides new investigation of industrial lands towards new development stage and helps raise understanding of factors influencing industrial lands in developing countries.