The impact of urban land misallocation on inclusive green growth efficiency: evidence from China

Inclusive green growth (IGG), as a new way to attain sustainable development, aims to achieve comprehensive and coordinated economic, social, and environmental development. How to define IGG and explore its driving factors is key to realizing IGG. This study takes China as an example, using panel data from 30 provinces in Mainland China from 2009 to 2018 for research. The epsilon-based measure (EBM) model and Global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) index are used to evaluate China’s IGG, and a spatial panel regression model of the impact of urban land resource misallocation on IGG is established. The research found that (1) China’s IGG level from 2009 to 2018 displayed an upward trend, and combined with exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), it was found that IGG has an obvious spatial correlation; (2) the regression model shows that the misallocation of land resources hinders the improvement of IGG in China; and (3) the decomposition of spatial spillover effects demonstrates that the misallocation of land resources has negative externalities, which will also have adverse effects on neighboring areas.