财政联邦主义视角下的政府间关系

财政联邦主义是西方学者借鉴政治学中的联邦制概念而创立的一个经济学概念,用于分析财政分权理论。本文从政府间关系角度出发,分析财政联邦主义产生的理论缘起,结合西方学术界关于政府间财政分权的不同模式,揭示财政联邦主义的理论基础和分析框架。以此为依据,分析财政联邦主义视角下的政府间关系构建,为研究市场经济条件下政府间关系寻找新的研究视角。     

林业项目差别财政扶持制度设计研究

林业是一个具有典型外部经济的行业,兼具生态、经济和社会功能。从改善生态环境、推动经济发展、促进社会进步的角度看,当代中国林业是一个需要重点发展的行业。而林业建设与公共财政有密不可分的联系,政府需要对林业给予大力支持。林业项目需要补偿的是其巨大的社会和生态效益,在建立科学的评价体系、定量界定林业的生态和社会效益的基础上,国家可以根据不同林业项目的生态和社会效益指标,实施公平的差别扶持制度。而差别补贴、差别税率、差别信贷和贴息政策、绿色证书制度的设计都是建立林业财政差别扶持制度的必然选择。     

区域合作中的府际契约:概念与分类

契约行政是当代中国区域政府间合作的一种模式创新,而府际契约是开展区域契约行政的制度支撑。从政府间关系视角看,府际契约本质上是一个府际治理问题,不能简单地与一般意义上的行政契约概念混为一谈,因为府际契约在追求目标、契约主体、贯彻原则和基本属性上,均与行政契约存在诸多差异乃至本质不同。本文根据签约主体间的相互关系以及合作的不同领域,对我国区域合作中的府际契约进行了不同分类。     

Tax Reforms under the Principle of Transparency,Efficiency and Equity

正CHINA has been comprehensively deepening reforms since the convening last November of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.Tax reforms affect the interests of each citizen and every enterprise,and are inextricable from economic development and social stability.As one of the world’s main emerging economies,China operates a fiscal system under the principle of high fiscal revenues and high fiscal expenditure,thus ensuring     

Federal dynamics in times of economic and financial crisis

The global economic and financial crisis is a challenge for all governments, but particularly for federal states because divided and/or shared territorial powers make federations susceptible to coordination problems in fiscal policy making. This article explores the effects of the ongoing crisis on federal relations. Three kinds of problems that may become the cause of federal tensions and conflicts are evoked: opportunism of subgovernments, centralisation and erosion of solidarity among members of the federation. Our analysis of fiscal policies and federal conflicts of 11 federations between 2007 and the present reveals three kinds of coordination problems: shirking in the use of federal government grants, rent‐seeking in equalisation payments, and over‐borrowing and over‐spending. Our results show that shirking remained limited to few cases and occurred only in the first part of the crisis. However, rent‐seeking and over‐borrowing and over‐spending led to a reduction of solidarity among subgovernments and to increased regulation of the fiscal discretion of the members of the federation. Subsequently, tensions in federal relations increased – although only in one case did this challenged the federal order.     

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inflows on Economic Growth in Barbados: An Engle-Granger Approach

The purpose of this article is to look at the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on economic growth in Barbados in the long and short run from 1979 to 2008 with the use of the Engle-Granger two-step procedure. The study shows that in the long run, a 1 percent increase in FDI inflows will expand economic growth by 0.10 percent while in the short run, the relationship between FDI and economic growth will be positive but almost flat. These results imply that any policy by Government aimed at boosting economic growth using FDI inflows will have to be considered for the long run since Government could not rely on FDI inflows in the short run.     

Subnational Collective Action: The Varied Patterns of Mobilisation of Local Government Associations

This article assesses differences in the way local government associations organise to influence EU legislation in different countries. EU policy outcomes have an increasing financial and administrative impact on local government. This has been increasingly recognised by both EU institutions and many national governments, and recent reforms have sought to ensure greater involvement of local authorities in the preparation of EU proposals and domestic pre-negotiations, with an emphasis on the aggregation of local government interests via European and national local government associations. Research suggests that representative organisations need to be well resourced to be able to mobilise at both European and national level to influence EU proposals. This article empirically assesses these claims by examining attempts by local government associations in England, Denmark and Ireland to influence EU environmental directives. The findings suggest that financial, staffing, and informational resources, as well as structural issues, are important factors influencing how local government representative bodies respond to EU legislative proposals.     

Fiscal Capacity Equalisation in Tanzania

Fiscal equalisation aims at enabling decentralised governments to supply similar services at similar tax rates. In order to equalise fiscal disparities, differences in both fiscal capacities and in fiscal needs have to be measured. This paper focuses on the measurement of fiscal capacity in a developing country. The current intergovernmental transfer system in Tanzania does not take differences in fiscal capacity into account. As a result, local governments in rich areas are able to generate considerably more revenue per capita than those in poor areas. Public services in poor areas are hard to finance. We propose a way of measuring fiscal capacities of local governments in Tanzania using poverty data. We use this measure to derive an equalisation grant that would support local governments that have a low fiscal capacity.     

The Flypaper Effect: Do Political Institutions Affect Danish Local Governments’ Response to Intergovernmental Grants?

Abstract

Despite a large number of empirical studies on the flypaper effect, it remains disputed whether the effect exists and to what extent it is asymmetrical. The flypaper effect suggests that intergovernmental grants tend to result in higher increases in public expenditures than a similar increase in citizens’ private income would have led to. An asymmetrical effect exists when the fiscal response differs depending on whether grants are increased or decreased. By considering political institutions that moderate the effect of intergovernmental grants, this article offers a theoretical explanation that accounts for the mixed empirical evidence. The local response to intergovernmental grants is tested using a reform of the Danish intergovernmental grant scheme in 2007. In line with the expectation, the article finds a strong asymmetrical effect, but more surprisingly, this effect is found both when subnational budget institutions are centralised and when they are fragmented.     

Political Fragmentation and Fiscal Status: Evidence from Municipalities in Israel

Abstract

This article analyses the link between fiscal balance and political fragmentation. While a large body of literature states that political fragmentation leads to fiscal deficits, others suggest that political fragmentation is associated with political competition, which tends to improve fiscal balance. These hypotheses are tested using budgetary and political data of municipalities in Israel for the years 1998–2006. The results suggest that both hypotheses may be correct, depending on voting behaviour. In Arab municipalities, where residents vote according to clan affiliation, low levels of political fragmentation are associated with large debts. On the contrary, in Jewish municipalities, low levels of political fragmentation are associated with small debts, since in these cases, coalition formation requires less spending and is easier to sustain.