中国式财政分权与环境污染——环境群体性事件的经济根源

Chinese-style fiscal decentralization and environmental pollution based on revealing the economic causes of mass disturbances and civil disorder surrounding environmental pollution

财政分权与政治集权的紧密结合是中国式财政分权的核心内涵。文章从中国式财政分权视角对环境污染问题给出解释,探索财政分权对地方政府的影响及其后果,以此揭示环境群体性事件产生的经济根源。采用1998-2012年省际面板数据,利用熵值法构造环境污染指标,同时引入财政分权指标、地方政府竞争指标和产业结构、外贸依存度、外商直接投资等控制变量建立计量模型分析财政分权对环境污染的影响。研究显示,中国存在环境库兹涅茨曲线,中国式财政分权改革及其对地方政府的激励扭曲导致了环境污染的加重,并且污染程度会随着分权度的提高和地方政府竞争的加剧进一步恶化;同时,财政分权对环境污染的影响在东部和中西部存在显著的区域性差异,环境群体性事件产生频率也存在区域差异。

The close combination of fiscal decentralization and political centralization is the core connotation of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization. This paper tries to explain the China＇ s environmental pollution based upon the perspective of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization,and reveals the incentive distortions to local government by fiscal decentralization. Utilizing the provincial panel data from 1998 to 2012,using entropy evaluation method to measure environmental pollution index and setting fiscal decentralization index,local government competition index and control variables such as industrial structure,foreign trade dependence and foreign direct investment,the paper studies the effect of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization on environmental pollution by establishing econometric model. The empirical results show that Environmental Kuznets Curve has existed in China,and Chinese-style fiscal decentralization and its incentive distortions to local government cause the deterioration of environmental quality,and the degree of environment pollution will get worse with the enhancement of fiscal decentralization and the growing competition among local governments. Further study of differences in east,central and west regions shows that there exists marked regional difference of the effect of fiscal decentralization on environmental pollution among different regions. The study finds that the impact of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization on central and west region is more than the eastern region,and the central and west region is more susceptible to the industrial structure,foreign trade dependence and foreign direct investment.