Is Urban and Rural Construction Land Quota Trading “Chicken Ribs”? An Empirical Study on Chongqing, China

Promoting market-oriented allocation of land has great significance in building a new pattern for high-quality development. As a market-oriented land allocation tool, land quota trading between urban and rural areas promotes spatial efficiency dynamically. In order to identify the contribution of land quota trading to economic efficiency, this paper uses a synthetic control method to evaluate the effect based on the practice of Chongqing, China. This study found that with the implementation of the land quota trading (LQT) program, the value of Chongqing’s economic output was 11.12% higher than the synthetic value, which indicates that the LQT program improved the spatial efficiency of land allocation, and eventually promoted economic growth. We suggest actively promoting land quota trading within and across provinces, and gradually deepening market-oriented reform in China’s construction land administration system.