Efficiency of logistics land use: The case of Yangtze River Economic Belt in China, 2000–2017

Based on panel data for 113 municipal cities between 2000 and 2017, we examined the spatial-temporal patterns of the output efficiency of logistics land use and its possible determinant factors in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YEB) of China. The stochastic frontier analysis revealed that the average annual value of logistics land use efficiency (LLUE) in the YEB increased from 0.547 in 2000 to 0.655 in 2017. The Tobit model revealed that all the explanatory variables had positive and significant relationship with the LLUE, with the exception of the tertiary sector and informatization. Importantly, Tobit models of three sub-samples revealed various development stages in the logistics industry across space: downstream cities may reach the plateau of LLUE through organic growth, while an increase in the land supply for logistics use could still be associated with an improvement of the LLUE of a logistics industry located upstream. Finally, we deduced that the inflection point of LLUE for organic growth in logistics land use in the YEB could be between 0.59 and 0.69 during the study period (or between 0.64 and 0.73 in 2017). It is inefficient for urban planners to increase land zoning for logistics use to pass the point of positive marginal return to the economy.