Dynamic change and driving factors of land use efficiency differences affected by carbon emissions at the provincial level in China

Land use efficiency(LUE) is an important parameter reflecting the operation quality of regional economic and social system. Based on the evaluation index system of LUE considering undesirable output, this paper attempts to evaluate Land use efficiency in China based on the Super SBM-undesirable DEA model considering undesirable output and explores the influence factors of LUE in China during the period 2003-2016. The empirical results show that during the research period, most provinces in China are not performing efficiently. Additionally, the overall average level of China′s LUE is at a medium or low level, and the carbon emission output reduces the level of LUE by 15%. Consistent with the spatial pattern of the national economic development level, the inter-provincial difference of LUE demonstrates a declining trend from eastern to western China. From 2003 to 2016, the evolution of the level of LUE demonstrates a "U" evolution feature, and the level of LUE without considering undesirable output presents a declining trend. Undesirable output and excessive energy consumption input become the main limiting factors for improvement of LUE. The level of economic development, the degree of opening-up, and the fixed assets investment have significant positive effects on LUE. At present, the increase of urbanization level has a weak promoting effect on improvement of LUE, which is only significant in the Eastern China. Based on the redundancy of slack variables and the analysis of influencing factors, this paper puts forward the corresponding countermeasures against the different factors of LUE and low efficiency in different regions.