财政纵向失衡与城乡居民收入差距:理论与实证

Vertical Fiscal Imbalance and Income Gap between Urban and Rural Residents: Theory and Evidence

笔者立足中国财政体制特征,将财政纵向失衡与城乡居民收入差距纳入同一理论分析框架,通过理论分析诠释了财政纵向失衡对城乡居民收入差距的作用机理。经实证研究发现:现阶段中国式财政纵向失衡总体上具有恶化城乡居民收入差距的影响效应;该效应存在区域异质性,具体表现为在经济基础较好、税源相对丰富的东部地区,城乡居民收入差距易受到财政纵向失衡的影响,而在经济基础欠缺、税源相对匮乏的中、西部地区,城乡居民收入差距却难受到财政纵向失衡的影响;此外,随着地区城镇化建设持续推进到一定程度,财政纵向失衡对城乡居民收入差距的恶化效应还将显著变小。为合理缩小城乡居民收入差距,中国应继续深化现代财政体制改革,完善民生政绩考核体系,加快新型城镇化进程。

Based on the characteristics of China’s fiscal system, this paper puts the vertical fiscal imbalance and the income gap between urban and rural residents into the same theoretical analysis framework, and interprets the mechanism of the effect of the vertical fiscal imbalance on the income gap between urban and rural residents through theoretical analysis.The empirical research shows that: at present, the vertical fiscal imbalance of Chinese style has the effect of worsening the income gap between urban and rural residents.There is regional heterogeneity in this effect, which is reflected in the fact that in the eastern region with a better economic foundation and relatively rich tax sources, urban-rural income gap is easily affected by the vertical fiscal imbalance.while in the central and western regions with a lack of economic foundation and relatively poor tax sources, urban-rural income gap is difficult to be affected by the vertical fiscal imbalance.In addition, as urbanization continues to advance to a certain extent, the worsening effect of fiscal vertical imbalance on the income gap between urban and rural residents will significantly decrease.To properly narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents, China should continue to deepen the reform of modern fiscal system, improve the local government’s performance evaluation system for people’s livelihood, and speed up the process of new urbanization.