The impact of transfer payments on urban-rural income gap--Based on fuzzy RD analysis of China’s midwestern counties data

In this paper,using 1054 counties data of 15 provinces in Midwestern China from 2000 to 2007,we analyze the impact of transfer payments on urban-rural income gap.By choosing Develop-the-west Strategy that is a quasi-natural experiment and using regression of discontinuity of location,the result shows that local government in western China pays more transfer payments than in the central region,however,the income gap between urban-rural residents in the western region increases by 20%.The widening effects are robust in different bandwidth situation such as distance or latitude and longitude.Meanwhile,the mechanism analyses find that urban residents benefit more than rural residents from transfer payments.Therefore,we believe that transfer payments should be more targeted to invest in rural areas,at the same time,the central government should rationalize the structure of transfer payments as soon as possible,and correct the urban bias and structure bias of local fiscal expenditure.

Income inequality and growth from functional orientation and spatial policy:Case study of Tibet,China

Economic inequality and poverty are problemsexperiencedbymanycountries.Considerable attention has been paid to these issues in recent times.Studies on economic inequality have been characterized by geographical disparities and a lack of consideration of functional orientation.As one of the most typical and featured mountainous areas in Western China,Tibet demonstrates both the necessity and urgency of conducting studies on income inequality and growth issues.This paper proposes to address these problems by exploring the temporal and geographical variations in income inequality in Tibet,thereby revealing the differences in functional zones.Spatial Markov chains and panel regression analysis were applied to identify the spatial-temporal dynamics of income disparity.The results of this study show that(1)the overall income inequality in Tibet shows an expanding trend in the period 2005–2010 and a converging trend in the period 2010–2015,and there is a large disparity in income inequality between functional zones;(2)Tibetan farmers and herdsmen may face great difficulties in achieving substantial growth in the near future;(3)frontier counties,cultivated land,and grassland areas have negative impacts on income growth,while cordyceps counties,GDP per capita,agricultural product proportion,transfer payments,the ratio of nonagricultural employment to the total employment,the length of the average schooling year,and the slaughter rate of cattle and sheep have positive impacts;and(4)functional orientation has made great differences to income inequality and its mechanism.In light of these results,evidence-based policies have been formulated to boost average household income and narrow income inequality in Tibet.

Vertical Fiscal Imbalance,Transfer Payment and Local Government Governance

Accelerating the construction of modern fiscal and tax system helps not only free local governments from the shackle of the“competition for growth”development model,but also improve the governance capacity of local governments and realize the good governance of the country in the long term.Firstly,based on the typical fact of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization,this paper theoretically interprets the multiple channels and influencing mechanisms among vertical fiscal imbalance,transfer payment and local government governance.Secondly,it constructs a comprehensive index system to measure the governance capacity of local governments.The result shows that local government governance is relatively low in capacity and slow in improvement,and displays obvious regional heterogeneity.Then,the paper chooses structure and scale of transfer payment as mediator to construct the panel simultaneous equation model,and uses the three-stage least squares estimation(3SLS)for empirical investigation.The study finds that first,both the scale and structure of transfer payment may significantly affect local government governance,but the direction of the effects is opposite;second,the intensified vertical fiscal imbalance and the increase of transfer payment in scale can significantly inhibit local government governance,but the optimization of transfer payment in structure can significantly improve the governance;third,vertical fiscal imbalance not only directly inhibits the improvement of local government governance,but indirectly impedes it through the scale and structure of transfer payment.

Transfer payment structure and local government fiscal efficiency:The quantile regression by panel data

After revenue-sharing system reform,the proportion of tax refund in fiscal transfer payments continued to decline,and the proportion of categorical grant and condition grant increased.The calculation results used SE-DEA method show that,the financial expenditure efficiency declined continuously from 1995.The paper studies how transfer payment structure effect fiscal efficiency from the perspective of local financial revenue structure.The theoretical and empirical studies indicate that,the tax refund is the most effective policy and the categorical grant is more efficient than condition grant.Because the categorical grant is the fairest policy,we suggest the central government should decrease the condition grant,and increase the tax refund or categorical grant in transfer payment.

Contributions on the Special-Contracted Teacher Scheme and the Supply of Rural Teachers

In the past decade,the Special-Contracted Teacher Scheme has witnessed remarkable progress,but there are deficiencies including inadequate benefit guarantee for and mixed reviews on the quality of special-contracted teachers.In the context of developing the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021-2025)for education and accelerating the modernization of education,the current implementation of the Special-Contracted Teacher Scheme requires to be further examined and judged,to adjust the policy in time and present policy recommendations for the supply of rural teachers during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.Therefore,several scholars were invited to contribute to gain insight into this policy from multiple perspectives.

On promoting the innovation of the urbanization system in Western China from the view of public finance and taxation

New Urbanization is a major strategic decision for building socialism with Chinese characteristics,which has a profound significance for the comprehensive moves towards the completion of building a moderately prosperous society,accelerating the process of socialist modernization.The development of new urbanization requires the support of relevant mechanisms and systems.According to documents released by the State Council of China,promoting the innovation of urbanization systems is a crucial component to the cause of new urbanization in 2015.Based on the new urbanization system stipulated in The National New Urbanization Plan(2014-2020),this paper chooses to analyze how the fund security mechanism promotes innovation of the urbanization system in Western China from the perspective of public finance and taxation.This paper analyzes the relationship between urbanization and fund security,the importance of public funding to urbanization,and the shortcomings of urbanization in terms of public funding and taxation.This paper also discusses how the urbanization system can be promoted by improving the institution of fiscal transfer payments and local tax systems.

Does Urban and Rural Subsistence Security System Reduce Future Poverty?Empirical Analysis Based on Vulnerability to Poverty

For a long time,related literature on researching the relationship between subsistence security system and poverty focuses on the current effects while ignoring its long-term effects.With the aid of CFPS2012 micro survey data,this paper empirically investigates the impact of the urban and rural subsistence security system on the household vulnerability to poverty.The Method of Propensity Score Matching(PSM)has been adopted in this paper to eliminate the sample selection bias as far as possible.Basic results show that subsistence security system has not significantly improved the vulnerability to poverty of the family,and may increase the possibility of falling into poverty in the future,which conclusion is valid for both urban and rural households.

A review of tax-sharing reform and related thoughts

Begun in 1994,tax-sharing reform in China has been a major adjustment to and innovation within the taxation and fiscal system.Yet,despite its sound policy effects on the economy,there is still room for improvement.This essay starts with a review of its implementation and problems over the past 20 years,and based on that,seeks to discuss some enablers of deeper fiscal reform.The essay also goes into details in the analysis of measures for completing a hierarchical fiscal system,making the division of administrative power more rational,having a clearer definition of centrally and locally owned revenues,optimizing the transfer payment system,and improving the fiscal system below the provincial level.