财政能力与横向公平:两种均等化模式关系辨析——兼论中国公共服务均等化实现路径选择

Financial Capacity and Horizontal Equity:An Analysis of Two Kinds of Equalization Model

"公共服务均等化"一词,在中国早已成为热门词汇,但人们却在不同的语境下对其内涵进行解读。从政府财力配给的方面看,均等化意味着政府间财力的均衡;而从民生发展的方面看,均等化意味着结果的公平。两种均等化在财政联邦主义中分别被称作财力均等化和横向公平均等化,有着不同的内涵和政策指向,而中国的均等化模式选择也始终在两者之间存在争论。文章基于中国1978～2010年的数据,运用协整分析方法对中国的财力均等化与横向公平均等化之间的关系进行了分析。研究结论表明,中国两种均等化之间存在着长期的协整关系,但影响程度并不显著,这意味着在中国通过推进财力均等化来实现横向公平均等化的路径是可行的,但单纯依靠财力均等化无法实现横向公平。

＂ Public Service Equalization＂ has become a buzzword in China, but it has not yet been discussed in a unified context. ＂ Equalization＂ means the government rations financial equilibrium from government fi- nances, and that the results of human development are kept level and fair. This dual equalization of fiscal feder- alism, called both financial equalization and horizontal equity equalization, has different connotations and policy points, while controversy always exists between the two modes of selection. This paper is based on data from 1978 -2010, and analyzes the relationship between financial resources and horizontal equity equalization by u- sing a co - integration analysis method. Our conclusions indicate that, there is a long - term co - integrated re- lationship between the two equalizations, but its effect is not significant. This indicates that China can achieve horizontal equity equalization through promoting financial equalization.