ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Effects of economic growth targets on the local government industrial land allocation: An empirical study from China
guancheng guo
Hao Sun
Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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Abstract
Based on data from 275 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2022, this study systematically examines the impact of economic growth targets (EGTs) on industrial land allocation by local governments. The results indicate that EGTs significantly promote the scale of industrial land grants while significantly inhibiting industrial land prices and the degree of marketization. This impact is significant heterogeneity across regions, development periods, levels of industrialization, and stages of economic development. EGTs also exert top-down amplification, constraint, and spatial spillover effects. Top-down amplification further extends the influence of EGTs on industrial land allocation; compared to soft constraints, hard constraints exert a strong negative impact on industrial land prices and a considerably pronounced positive impact on the scale of land allocation. EGTs not only affect industrial land allocation within a region but also exert a more pronounced influence, in the same direction, on neighboring regions. Our findings provide empirical support for uncovering the underlying logic of government behavior and fostering high-quality regional economic development.
Summary
Keywords
economic growth targets, Environmental Policy, Industrial land, Local Government, urban economy
Received
22 December 2025
Accepted
20 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 guo and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Hao Sun
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