The combination of digital technology and finance has brought about a new development model for financial inclusion. What impact will it have on the current imbalance in the distribution of financial resources and the urban-rural income gap in China? To answer this question, this paper uses relevant data from 2014–2018 to study the impact of digital inclusive finance on the urban-rural income gap from the theory of financial exclusion, and analyzes the transmission of digital inclusive finance through alleviating financial exclusion, widening financing channels and helping residents with entrepreneurial spirit to start their own businesses, thus increasing jobs, raising the income of rural residents and reducing the urban-rural income gap. The conclusions are as follows: (1) digital inclusive finance can significantly converge the urban-rural income gap; (2) among the dimensions of digital inclusive finance, only the breadth of coverage can significantly reduce the urban-rural income gap, while the effects of depth of use and digitalization are not significant; (3) digital inclusive finance can alleviate the urban-rural income gap through the transmission mechanism of promoting residents’ entrepreneurship; (4) the worse the regional economic development and education, the better the effect of digital inclusive finance on the urban-rural income gap. This paper combines the above results to propose corresponding policy recommendations.

Rapid urbanization has provided a strong impetus for the economic growth of China, but it has also caused many problems such as inefficient urban land use and environmental pollution. With the popularization of the concept of green and sustainable development, the Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) assessment concept is widely accepted. The government and residents are paying more and more attention to environmental issues in urban development, and environmental protection has formed an important part of urban development. In this context, this study takes 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta as examples to build an evaluation system for urban land-use efficiency under green development orientation. The evaluation system takes into account the inputs of land, capital, labor, and energy factors in the process of urban development. Based on emphasizing economic output, the social benefits and undesired outputs brought about by urban development are taken into account. This paper measures urban land use efficiency by the super-efficiency SBM model, and on this basis, analyses the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urban land-use efficiency. Further, this paper measures urban land use efficiency without considering undesired outputs and compares the two evaluation methods. Again, the comparison illustrates the rationality of urban land use efficiency evaluation system under green development orientation.

The high coupling coordination of urban land use benefits is a significant factor for urbanization and sustainable urban development. This study, based on the statistical data from 2002 to 2017 of Xiamen City, constructs an index system that includes social, economic, ecological, and environmental benefits by evaluating the overall coupling coordination degree of land use benefits, using the entropy weight method (EWM), the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, and the dynamic coupling coordination degree (DCCD) model. The results show that the coupling degree of Xiamen City’s land use is relatively low, while showing a positive trend of development. In terms of the management of land use, the market should play a major role to achieve more efficient land use and promote industrial upgrading. The government should take responsibility for supplying infrastructure, perfecting related laws and regulations, intervening the land use according to the law of markets, and expanding the investment in education, as well as science and technology.

In recent years, urbanization has been developing rapidly. However, it is also accompanied by land management problems, such as low land use efficiency. In this research, we manage to explore the temporal and spatial evolution laws as well as characteristics of the coupling and coordinated development between urbanization and land use benefits. Through this, it is possible for us to provide policy recommendations for the sustainable development of the urbanization in Fujian Province. In this study, we take prefecture-level municipal districts and county-level cities in Fujian as the research subject. We construct an index system, based on data in 2002, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2017, to evaluate the urban land use benefits and urbanization. Besides, we leverage the Gini coefficient weighting method to give weight to each index and calculate the value of its benefits. Moreover, it is the relative development degree and the coupling coordination degree model that we comprehensively leverage to study the spatiotemporal evolution law of the coupling coordination degree (CCD). The results show that: (1) Urban land use benefits and urbanization level are positively correlated with the regional administrative level and economic development status; (2) The CCD of urban land use benefits and urbanization level in various regions of Fujian is still low. However, the overall development direction is good; (3) From the perspective of spatial distribution, the CCD owns a “center-periphery” pattern that is based on the law of diminishing CCD power from three central cities of Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Sanming. Consequently, it requires governments to take action. Firstly, they should promote the intensive land use in the urbanization process. Meanwhile, they should also pay attention to ecological environment protection. Besides, it is recommendable to give full play to the radiating and leading effect of central cities on surrounding ones. Finally, they are required to provide appropriate policies and resource support to peripheral cities.

Land resources have become one of the major factors limiting urban development in China. In the context of sustainable development, how to improve land use efficiency (LUE) has become a major challenge on the road to sustainable development in China. Carbon finance provides a new idea for sustainable development. With the help of carbon emissions trading policy (CETP), this paper aims to investigate whether carbon finance can optimize LUE in terms of economic effects and environmental effects. Based on the data of 158 prefectural-level cities in China from 2010 to 2017, this paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate these issues. Specifically, this paper measures the land use efficiency from economic effects (LUE_Eco) and environmental effects (LUE_Env) using the entropy method, and visualizes the data to obtain information on their spatio-temporal evolution patterns. Furthermore, this paper verifies the causal relationship between policy implementation and LUE_Eco and LUE_Env by using the difference in differences (DID) method. The conclusions show that: (1) the levels of LUE_Eco and LUE_Env in the pilot regions generally increase after the implementation of the CETP, but only the increase of LUE_Env is due to the policy implementation; (2) the CETP not only effectively reduces CO₂ emissions, but also promotes the reduction of industrial ‘three wastes’ emissions. Accordingly, this paper has gained insights on how to improve LUE in China.