Urban construction land allocation efficiency of urban agglomerations in China based on a stochastic frontier production function approach

This study employs stochastic frontier production function approach to measure the spatial differences and temporal variations of urban construction land allocation efficiency (UCLAE) and its decomposed indicators in the eastern, central, and western urban agglomerations of China. The collection of construction land price data and the application of the Kumbhakar total factor productivity decomposition method in this study address the research gap in the field of urban land efficiency, specifically the inadequacy of studying the efficiency of construction land allocation. The findings reveal that the UCLAE in the central urban agglomerations demonstrates a stable or upward trend, while the UCLAE in the western and eastern urban agglomerations shows a significant decline, albeit with a decreasing trend that has been curbed. The evolution of urban construction land allocation and its efficiency in different urban agglomerations in China supports the theories of unbalanced growth and inverted U-shaped development. To enhance the UCLAE in Chinese urban agglomerations, it is necessary to address the issue of imbalanced land allocation. This requires not only focusing on the construction land allocation in each urban agglomeration but also considering workforce allocation in the western region and capital allocation in the eastern region. Furthermore, it is crucial to synergistically improve the resource allocative efficiency and technical efficiency of Chinese urban agglomerations.