加拿大地域间收入差异与国家财政补贴

Changing regional income disparities and fiscal transfers in Canada from 1951 to 1991

运用基尼系数、变动系数、加重变动系数及锡尔系数对加拿大地域间收入差距变化进行实证分析后得出,自1950年代至1960年代加拿大地域差异的缩小比较缓慢,到了1970年代中期地域差异呈现出急剧缩小的倾向,随后地域差异缩小开始停滞,而进入1980年代后期地域差异又有扩大的倾向。同时加拿大政府的财政补贴对地域差异带来了很大的影响,大西洋各省与魁北克省在一定程度享受到了政府补贴收入所带来的实惠。从各个地域锡尔系数的相互关联来看,东西部之间的差异及东部5省内的差异在不断缩小,说明财政补贴收入起到了积极作用。加拿大实质GDP成长率与经济成长呈现出较大的波动性,但这并不代表经济成长地域差异就缩小,经济停滞地域差异就扩大,地域差异缩小主要是对低收入地域所进行的财政补贴规模的扩大,在1980年代财政补贴的规模缩小,地域差异缩小的倾向也开始停滞。

In this paper, we analyze regional income disparities and fiscal transfers changes in Canada from 1951 to 1991 based on statistical data and clarify their structure of change. For this purpose, this study describes that the changing inter-provincial differentials of personal income per capita is specified using Gini coefficient, the coefficient of variation and Theil＇s measure. The results of the survey lead to the following conclusions. The disparities gradually decreased from the early 1950s to late 1960s and dropped sharply in the early 1970s. During the following decade, the disparities tended to decrease significantly from the mid-1970s, and the decrease in disparities became steady in the early 1980s. Based on Theil＇s measure, the disparities within eastern provinces and between eastern and western regions showed a remarkable reduction. The role of fiscal transfers in the changing regional income inequalities is examined. The expanding disparities within western provinces during the 1980s are responsible for the diverging total disparities. We do not consider that economic growth rate had a significantly negative effect on the diver gence of the regional inequalities. These results support disequilibrium and transition per- spectives in the sense that an economic boom can increase the relative strength of expan- sion, and a depression can decrease the effect in Canada. It is true that the convergence of regional inequalities is mainly caused by the expanding fiscal transfers, but this does not mean a sustainable economic growth of low income provinces. This implies that they have increasingly depended upon government transfers in terms of economic well being.