Public Financial Management Systems and Countries' Governance: A Cross‐Country Study

The objective of this study is to explore whether a relationship exists between public financial management (PFM) systems and expert perceptions of countries' governance in an international cross‐country study. We examine the extent to which variations in accounting, budgeting and auditing practices are associated with governance in a sample of 97 countries that represent different levels of development, analysing the differences between countries classified into factor, efficiency and innovation‐driven economies. Our concept of governance perception includes three dimensions: accountability, government effectiveness and corruption. We find that countries with a higher level of economic development show, on average, more sophisticated PFM systems characterized by the presentation of accrual‐based financial statements, the application of value for money audits and higher budget transparency. When analysing the sub‐samples of countries according to the level of economic development, we find that countries with similar governance perception scores show different patterns of PFM practices, suggesting that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all approach. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

乡镇政府改革与新农村建设

建设社会主义新农村,县、乡政府是关键。如何发挥乡镇政府在新农村建设中的作用,笔者认为应该以目前的乡镇政府改革为契机,合理确定乡镇政府在新农村建设中的主要职能,同时为保证这些事权真正到位,还必须根据这些事权赋予乡镇政府应有的财权,并对乡镇政府的财政使用进行管理监督,以保证这些财政资金真正用于新农村建设,保证新农村建设取得实效。     

Fiscal Decentralization,Flat Administrative Structure,and Local Government Size: Evidence and Lessons from China

This paper examines the effects of fiscal decentralization and flat administrative structure on local budget size and program outlays. We test three related theoretical hypotheses in China's adoption of province‐over‐county scheme of financial administration. We provide evidence that both decentralization of expenditure and decentralization of revenue increase the size of local budgets; that the impact of the former far outweighs that of the latter with local budgets on a rising trajectory; and that discretion grants localities more means to increase their budget. These results show that as China's reform deepens the proportion of local outlay on administration declines because of more local discretion from eliminating the prefecture bypass between the province and counties. But neither decentralization nor increased local discretion has allocated more local resources for education, and both contribute to increasing outlay on economic development. The paper formulates tentative policy recommendations that carry potential application for other countries. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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。     

乡(镇)村关系视阈中“村务公开”的困境及其破解路径

“村务公开”面临着许多现实问题,这些问题的根源在于基层社会乡村(镇)关系的矛盾和冲突,表现在基层权力体制、基层民主和乡(镇)村财政体制以及传统的“乡土文化”对“村务公开”的影响。破解“村务公开”的困境在于扩大基层民主自治范围和层次,建立乡(镇)民委员会的自治组织,进行“乡镇社区”治理。     

SPENDING APPROPRIATELY

正Efforts are being made at both the central and locallevel to prevent the misuse of taxpayer money For years,government expenditure on vehicles,receptions and overseas trips for officials—also known as the"three public-funded consumption categories"—has been a topic of contention among the Chinese public due to the large sums of money coupled     

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.     

RIP RIPA? Snowden,Surveillance, and the Inadequacies of our Existing Legal Framework

This collection of pieces addresses questions raised by the Snowden revelations and their aftermath. All the authors were participants at a round‐table discussion at King's College London on Thursday 20 March 2014. The round table was chaired jointly by Sir Lawrence Freedman and Lord [Peter] Hennessy. Those participating were: Baroness [Onora] O'Neill, Lord [Ken] Macdonald, Nigel Inkster, Professor Thomas Rid (King's College), Ewen MacAskill (The Guardian), Gordon Corera (BBC), Jemima Stratford QC, Peter Horrocks (BBC), Charlie Edwards (RUSI), Professor Jean Seaton (Westminster University), Bill Peace (King's, ex‐SOCA), Air Vice‐Marshal Andrew Vallance (DA‐Notice), Carl Miller (DEMOS/King's), Lord (Alex) Carlile and Richard Sambrook (Cardiff University). The round table was organised by Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust, and Benedict Wilson, lecturer in Defence Studies at King's and Research Associate at KPI. It was a joint Media Standards Trust–King's Policy Institute Event. For more information please contact martin.moore@mediastandardstrust.org or benedict.wilson@kcl.ac.uk .