Effects of Industrial Land Conveyance on Coastal Marine Pollution: An Spatial Durbin Econometric Analysis

Abstract

Compared to inland areas, coastal areas display more frequent economic activity in China. Unfortunately, they also have the greatest impact on the coastal environment. Among the economic activities in coastal areas, industrial land conveyance not only has a profound impact on local economic growth, but also poses a greater threat to coastal water. Using panel data collected from 45 coastal cities during the period 2007–2017, this study constructed a spatial Durbin model to investigate the effects of industrial land conveyance on coastal marine pollution. Results show that the expansion of two-lagged agreement-based industrial land conveyance areas in a coastal city can increase coastal marine pollution. Meanwhile, the positive impacts of the two-lagged industrial land conveyance and the industrial land conveyance areas, through bidding, auction, and listing, on coastal marine pollution are statistically significant but economically insignificant. Furthermore, the two-lagged industrial land conveyance areas have a spatial spillover effect on coastal marine pollution. Specifically, the expansion of such areas from a coastal city can increase the marine pollution of other coastal cities.