财政分权、地方竞争与经济增长质量

Fiscal Decentralization,Yardstick Competition and the Quality of Economic Growth

财政分权是促进我国经济快速增长的重要因素,那么,财政分权对我国经济增长质量有何影响。文章从竞争视角阐释了财政分权影响经济增长质量的内在机理,基于五大发展理念构建经济增长质量评价指标体系,实证研究了财政分权对我国经济增长质量的影响。结果发现:财政分权与经济增长质量间存在“U”型关系,即财政分权在短期抑制经济增长质量的提升,在长期将促进经济增长质量的改善;地方竞争是财政分权影响经济增长质量的重要因素,财政分权与地方竞争的交互作用对经济增长质量产生显著的负向影响,表明财政分权使得地方政府间的竞争行为更为激烈,阻碍了经济增长质量的提升,意味着在财政分权体制下提升经济增长质量需要考虑地方政府间的竞争。为实现经济高质量发展,应进一步实行财政分权体制改革,完善地方政府官员考核标准。

The existing literature shows that the Chinese fiscal decentralization is an important factor in promoting the rapid economic growth of China.What is the impact of fiscal decentralization on the quality of economic growth in China?Firstly,the paper explains the internal mechanism of fiscal decentralization affecting the quality of economic growth from the perspective of yardstick competition.Based on the five development concepts,it constructs an evaluation index system of economic growth quality,and empirically studies the impact of fiscal decentralization on the quality of economic growth in China.The results show that there exists a“U”type correlation between fiscal decentralization and the quality of economic growth in which the short-term fiscal decentralization restrains the improvement of the quality of economic growth,but it will promote the improvement of the quality of economic growth in the long run;yardstick competition is an important factor affecting the quality of economic growth,and the interaction between fiscal decentralization and scale competition has a significant negative impact on the quality of economic growth,indicating that fiscal decentralization has a significant negative impact on the quality of economic growth.This makes the competition among local governments more intense and hinders the improvement of the quality of economic growth.It means that under the Chinese fiscal decentralization system,the yardstick competition among local governments should be considered in order to improve the quality of economic growth.Finally,in order to achieve high-quality economic development,we should further implement the reform of fiscal decentralization system and improve the assessment criteria of local government officials.