中心城市财政压力及其缓解——基于美国学术文献的考察

On the Fiscal Stress and Relief Strategies of the Central Cities:A Literature Review of US Academic Research

伴随着人口的郊区化,美国中心城市财政压力日益增加。1960年代开始,学术界开始探讨城郊财政差别。中心城市人口与就业率增长速度变慢甚至下降,税率却在上涨,相对郊区,公共服务与教育质量要低得多。20世纪80至90年代,美国掀起了一股关注中心城市财政压力及应对策略的研究热潮。中心城市的财政压力主要根源于以下四个方面:一是富有的人口迁移到郊区使财政收入能力下降;二是公共服务责任更多;三是相对郊区,城市不受控制的成本更高;四是上一级政府的政策。上述研究对中国城市财政研究与财政政策提供了借鉴与启示。

As a policy concern, City-suburb fiscal disparities with the suburbanization can be traced back to the 1960s. Compared to their suburban neighbors, many U.S. central cities continue to struggle with declines or slow growth in population and employment, higher tax burdens, lower quality of the public services, and poorer education. The fiscal stress and relief strategies become the research issues in the 1980s and 1990s focusing on the following four aspects： firstly, the wealthy population moved to the sub- urbs leads to the decreased revenue; secondly, the more public service obligations; thirdly, uncontrolled urban costs; fourthly, policies from the upper government. The above research provides a reference and inspiration to the study of Chinese urban fiscal policy.