地方政府分权改革对民生性公共服务的影响——基于河南“省直管县”分权改革的分析

The Influence of Decentralization Reform of Local Governments on People-oriented Public Services——Based on Analysis of Decentralization Reform of Counties Directly Managed by Province in Henan Province

本文基于河南"省直管县"分权改革试验,运用核匹配结合双重差分方法,研究分权对公共服务尤其是民生性公共服务发展的影响。研究发现,深化分权改革没有改变地方政府"重生产、轻民生性公共服务"的支出倾向。然而,从民生性公共服务的总体财政投入水平和具体产出水平两个视角都发现,分权显著促进了民生性公共服务的总体发展。其中,转移支付是河南"省直管县"分权改革促进民生性公共服务发展的关键。因此,在中国,无论是从生产性公共服务还是民生性公共服务发展看,分权的作用都值得肯定。同时,要想使分权更好发挥作用就必须有相应的配套改革,尤其要完善转移支付制度。

Based on the trial of decentralization reforms in the ＂ Counties Directly Managed by Province＂,This paper use kernel PSM combining difference-in-difference methods to study the influence of decentralization on the development of public services, especially people-oriented public services in China. The study found that deepening the decentralization reforms did not change the local government＇s tendency to ＂prefer to infrastructure and neglect the construction of people-oriented public services＂. However, from the perspectives of the overall financial investment and the specific output level of people-oriented public services, it has been found that decentralization significantly promotes the overall development of public services. Among them, transfer payments are the key to decentralization reforms to promote the development of people-oriented public services in Counties Directly Managed by Province. Therefore, in China, whether it is from the perspective of productive public services or the development of peopleoriented public services, the role of decentralization is worthy of recognition. At the same time, if we want to make decentralization work better, we must have corresponding supporting reforms, especially the improvement of the transfer payment system.