分税制改革、财政依赖度与教育均衡度改进

Tax-Share Reform, Fiscal Dependency and the Improvement of Education Equity

本研究通过检验分税制对于省内基础教育经费投入失衡之改进的影响,系统地分析了分税制如何通过影响省对于中央财政依赖度、进而影响各省省内基础教育均衡度的改进。经验数据显示分税制在整体上促进了省内教育均衡度的改进。考虑到我国显著的地区差异,本研究还通过分省考察财政依赖度与省内教育均衡度改进之间关系,发现两者之间存在着显著的倒U型曲线的影响模式。可见,在改革政府间财政关系的同时,改革教育评价制度才是改变教育不均衡的根本出路;从理论上看,分省考察财政依赖度与教育均衡的改进会加深人们对于教育失衡现象及其改进的理解。

The study explores the influence of the 1994 tax reform on the intra-provincial inequality of basic education through the change of the province＇s fiscal dependency on the State. The empirical analysis finds that the reform has a significant impact on the reduction in the intra-provincial inequality of financing basic education in general, which implies that the State could attain the policy goal by centralizing its relative fiscal capability and increasing the inter-governmental transfers. The data shows that there is no linear relationship between the fiscal dependency of province on the State and the reduction of educational inequality, even though the reform has substantially changed the former. However, the study indicates that there is a non-linear （inverted U-shape curve） relationship between the fiscal dependency and the intra-provincial inequality of basic education. Therefore, the reform on the performance evaluation systems in education is the key to the improvement of education equity.