Nonlinear influence of construction land on poverty reduction efficiency in Chinese poor counties: new evidence using a panel threshold model

The utilization of rural construction land in Chinese poor counties, which is mainly used for urbanization development, construction for farmers' new housing, infrastructure development (transportation, water conservancy), industrial project, and tourist attraction development, is vital to poverty reduction efficiency (PRE), which could promote economic growth and control the urban sprawl of poor counties. In this paper, we investigated the dynamic influence mechanism of rural construction land (LAND) on poverty reduction efficiency by the panel threshold model based on the evidence from 832 poor counties in China from 2010 to 2017. The results show that construction land contributes positively to the increase in poverty reduction efficiency. Still, this effect is affected by the different development levels of advancement of industry structure (CSA). When CSA exceeds the threshold value, the LAND will promote the PRE. Otherwise, it will have an inhibitory effect. Regional heterogeneity suggests that the increase of LAND is conducive to improving PRE in the eastern region. The impact effect continues to increase after crossing the threshold variable value. However, the LAND has an inhibitory effect on PRE when the CSA is lower than the first threshold variable in the central and western region. When the CSA exceeds its first threshold value, it indicates a positive impact. Especially for the central region, the driving effect of LAND on PRE is also strengthened when the CSA exceeds its second threshold value. This research demonstrates the nonlinear impact of LAND on PRE, which is helpful for both theoretical and practical research into the impact of land-related policies on reducing poverty.