DEA-based efficiency analysis for industrial land use: A case study of Chinese development zones

Abstract

Improving the efficiency of industrial land use in development zones has vital significance for promoting industrial upgrading, keeping a sustained rapid economic growth and dealing with the middle income trap risk. The paper takes 11 development zones in Shaoxing city, Zhejiang Province, as the research objects, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure the efficiency of industrial land use in these zones. The research indicates that: Improving the efficiency of industrial land use requires effective policy intervention; The industrial land use efficiency and the degree of industrial concentration both have strong positive correlation with the level of research and developmentwhile the increase of land use costs may constrain the efficiency of industrial land use; The level of development zones and the efficiency of industrial land use are not very relevant; The benefit of scale economies and the scale of land have no correlation. On this foundationpolicy proposals are offered mainly from these aspects: strengthening the planning and regulation of development zones, implementing industrial land supply sort management, perfecting the evaluation system of the development zones' upgrading and expansion.