财政分权视角下地方政府科技支出的标尺竞争——基于265个地级市的实证研究

Yardstick Competition of Local Government Science and Technology Spending from the Perspective of Fiscal Decentralization: An Empirical Study Based on 265 Prefecture-Level Cities

地方政府在科技领域的支出比重呈现整体上升趋势,这似乎与中国式财政分权体制下地方政府"重经济,轻科教文卫"的先验结论相悖。通过地方政府科技支出行为的时空间特征描述,构建了2003-2013年中国265个地级市的动态空间面板模型。研究结果表明:地方政府的科技支出策略具有显著的延续性,但同比上升幅度有限。尽管财政分权制度抑制了地方政府对科技研发的投资热情,但是地方财政科技支出比重有小幅增加,这完全是因为地方政府模仿互补的标尺竞争策略。此外,地方政府竞争对财政分权带来的科技支出结构扭曲具有显著的反向调节作用。在经济新常态下,地方政府应当从科技支出视角完善政府经济职能,深化财政制度改革,纠正财政支出结构扭曲。

The share of local government expenditure in science and technology presents an over- all upward trend, which seems inconsistent with the prior conclusion of local governments＇ ＂Laying stress on the economy while overlooking science, education, culture and health＂ under Chinese style of fiscal decentralization system. Through the description of the time and spatial characteristics of lo- cal governments＇ science and technology spending behaviors, this paper constructs a dynamic spatial panel model of China＇s 265 prefecture-level cities during 2003-2013. The results show that science and technology expenditure strategy of local governments has significant continuity, but the rising range is limited on year-on-year basis. Although the fiscal decentralization system has suppressed the investment enthusiasm of local governments for scientific and technological research and development, the proportion of local fiscal expenditure on science and technology has increased slightly, which is entirely the result from the yardstick competition strategy adopted by the local governments when imi- tating and complementing. In addition, the structural distortions of science and technology spending that local government competition brought to fiscal decentralization has significant back-adjusting func- tion. Therefore, in the new normal state of economy, local governments should improve the govern- ment＇s economic functions from the perspective of science and technology spending, deepen the re- form of the fiscal system, and correct the distorted fiscal expenditure structure.