个体异质性、中间投票人与地方公共品最优供给

Heterogenous Preferences,the Median Voter and the Optimal Supply of Local Public Goods

地方公共品最优供给取决于供求均衡,必然受到供给对象个体异质性的影响。本文致力于描述个体异质性对地方公共品供给的影响。基于中间投票人模型,个体异质性通过影响中间投票人认定,改变地方政府公共品供给决策。结合我国十省市教育与医疗卫生类公共品的省级面板数据,验证个体异质性对地方公共品最优供给的影响。结果显示,在教育产品的供给中,个体异质性并不明显,这多源自他们基于血缘关系的利他动机。在医疗卫生产品的供给中,个体异质性明显,且影响政府对此类公共品供给。同时,医疗卫生类公共品存在拥挤问题,应通过增加政府间转移支付,提高医疗卫生类公共服务供给水平,缓解拥挤问题。

Under the median voter model, individual heterogeneity influences the identification for the median voter,and then changes the local governments’ supply of public goods. With the example of education and medical services,using the provin-cial panel data of ten provinces in China, we try to verify the influence of individual heterogeneity on the optimal supply of local public goods. It shows that, individual heterogeneity is not obvious in the supply of education, which maybe originate from the altruistic motivation based on blood relationship. Individual heterogeneity is obvious in the supply of medical services. At the same time, there are obviously congestion problems in the supply of medical services. To relieve the congestion prob-lems, we must increase the government transfer payment, and improve the supply level.