财政分权对地方公共福利的影响——基于非线性和异质性的考量

地方公共福利主要由政府提供.财政分权对地方公共福利影响的研究呈现差异化,本文致力于研究财政分权对地方公共福利的非线性影响.本文首先运用内生增长理论,探究了财政分权与地方公共福利水平的动态关系.结论表明:财政分权与地方公共福利呈倒U型关系.然后,以中国2004-2014年省际面板数据为例,进行实证检验.结论表明:支出分权与公共交通基础设施服务呈倒U型关系,与公共医疗卫生服务、公共基础教育服务均不呈倒U型关系;通过采用不同的分权指标,证明了结论是稳健的;支出分权效应具有明显的地区异质性.希望本文研究思路与结论对财政分权对地方公共福利非线性效应的学术研究有一定的启发性.

The effect of fiscal decentralization on local public welfare: A nonlinear study with heterogeneous considerations effects

Local public welfare is mainly provided by the governments. Studies that examine the impact of fiscal decentralization on local public welfare show conflicting results. This paper thus focuses on the nonlinear effect of fiscal decentralization on local public welfare. The paper first analyzes the dynamic relationship between fiscal decentralization and local public welfare level through using the endogenous growth theory. Results show that fiscal decentralization and local public welfare display an inverse U-shaped relationship. Then, we explore this question empirically with a panel set over the 2004-2014 periods in China. Results show that:expenditure decentralization has an inverse U-shaped relationship with public transportation infrastructure service, but has no inverse U-shaped relationship with public health service and public basic education service; these results are robust by using different indicators for decentralization; expenditure decentralization effect has obvious regional heterogeneity. Hopefully, the perspective and conclusion of nonlinear effect of fiscal decentralization on local public welfare in this paper will be particularly illuminating for academic research.