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Fiscal Reform and Public Education Spending: A Quasi-natural Experiment of Fiscal Decentralization in China

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  • Wen Wang
  • Xinye Zheng
  • Zhirong Zhao

Abstract

Since the 1990s, China has pushed forward the province-managing-county (PMC) reform in some provinces as an experiment of fiscal decentralization. The reform provides a good opportunity to examine the impact of fiscal decentralization on fiscal behaviors of local governments in China. Using a data set of 108 counties in Henan Province during 1999--2008, we employ a difference-in-differences approach to investigate how the PMC reform affects local public education spending. The results show that counties given additional fiscal autonomy tend to spend a lower share of their annual expenditures on public education than other counties do. The findings suggest that fiscal decentralization does not necessarily make local governments more responsive to long-term benefits for local residents. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen Wang & Xinye Zheng & Zhirong Zhao, 2012. "Fiscal Reform and Public Education Spending: A Quasi-natural Experiment of Fiscal Decentralization in China," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 42(2), pages 334-356, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:publus:v:42:y:2012:i:2:p:334-356
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaojia Bao & Solomon Hsiang, 2016. "Transfer for Disasters: Governmental Responsiveness to Typhoon Risks in China," Working Papers 2014-07-02, Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University.
    2. Junxue Jia & Siying Ding & Yongzheng Liu, 2018. "Decentralization, Incentives, and Tax Enforcement," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1819, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    3. Jin, Haizhen, 2023. "Effects of decentralization on firm performance: Evidence from Chinese county-level quasi-experiments," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. Yue Dong & Dipanwita Sarkar & Jayanta Sarkar, 2021. "Decentralization and health resource allocation: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," QuBE Working Papers 060, QUT Business School.
    5. Zhong, Taiyang & Zhang, Xiaoling & Huang, Xianjin & Liu, Fang, 2019. "Blessing or curse? Impact of land finance on rural public infrastructure development," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 130-141.
    6. Jia, Junxue & Ding, Siying & Liu, Yongzheng, 2020. "Decentralization, incentives, and local tax enforcement," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    7. Liu, Yongzheng & Alm, James, 2016. "“Province-Managing-County” fiscal reform, land expansion, and urban growth in China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 82-100.
    8. Leonardo Letelier S & Hector Ormeño C, 2018. "Education and fiscal decentralization. The case of municipal education in Chile," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(8), pages 1499-1521, December.
    9. James Alm & Yongzheng Liu, 2014. "China's Tax-for-Fee Reform and Village Inequality," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 38-64, March.
    10. Yongzheng Liu & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Baoyun Qiao, 2014. "Falling Short: Intergovernmental Transfers in China," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1423, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    11. Tapan Sarker, 2013. "Taxing for the future: an intergenerational perspective," Chapters, in: Moazzem Hossain & Tapan Sarker & Malcolm McIntosh (ed.), The Asian Century, Sustainable Growth and Climate Change, chapter 4, pages 85-110, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Alfred M Wu, 2019. "The logic of basic education provision and public goods preferences in Chinese fiscal federalism," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Yi Long & Chris Nyland & Russell Smyth, 2016. "Fiscal Decentralisation, the Knowledge Economy and School Teachers’ Wages in Urban China," Monash Economics Working Papers 13-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    14. Wang, Zhiguo & Ma, Liang, 2012. "New Development of Fiscal Decentralization in China," MPRA Paper 36918, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Zhiguo Wang & Liang Ma, 2014. "Fiscal Decentralization in China: A Literature Review," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(1), pages 51-65, May.
    16. Jian Huang & Longjin Chen & Jianjun Li & Wim Groot, 2017. "Expenditure Decentralization and Citizen Satisfaction with Healthcare: Evidence from Urban China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 333-344, August.
    17. Hu, Fox Z.Y. & Qian, Jiwei, 2017. "Land-based finance, fiscal autonomy and land supply for affordable housing in urban China: A prefecture-level analysis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 454-460.
    18. Jiang, Weijie & Li, Yidong, 2023. "Effect of fiscal decentralization on pollution reduction: Firm-level evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).

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