财政分权对人口流动的影响——基于人口老龄化背景的分析

在我国人口快速老龄化的背景下,本文分析了财政分权对人口流动的影响机理,并利用面板数据,实证研究了省以下财政分权对人口流动的门限效应。结果表明:当老龄化水平较低时,纵向的财政分权可以促进人口大量迁入,而地方政府间横向财政自主度差异程度却对流动人口规模表现出显著的负面影响。当老龄化水平超过门限值后,政府间横向差异和纵向财政分权收入指标的影响不再显著,但财政分权支出指标对人口流入产生明显抑制作用。中央政府应根据各地区的老龄化程度进行地方政府间财政改革,并通过改革户籍制度、推动国家级城市群建设和调整落实人口老龄化政策等措施,进一步提高人口流动性。     

财政分权、政府转移支付与农村贫困——基于预算内外和收支双重维度的门槛效应分析

财政分权是否有利于减缓贫困是国内外理论界近来关注的焦点问题之一。文章首先基于中国财政分权实践从理论层面系统阐释了预算内外收支分权影响贫困的作用机制,然后以政府转移支付作为门限变量,通过建立面板门限回归模型实证考察了1995-2010年间我国财政分权对农村贫困的影响效应。结果发现:一是预算内收入与支出分权能够显著减少农村贫困,且预算内支出分权的减贫效果更加明显。二是预算外财政收支分权对农村贫困的影响存在较大差异。预算外支出分权有利于降低农村贫困发生率,而预算外收入分权程度的增加会恶化农村贫困,但并不显著。三是政府转移支付对农村贫困存在非线性门槛效应。当政府转移支付比例低于门限值0.6965时,中央政府增加对地方政府的转移支付有利于缓解农村贫困;反之,则不利于减少农村贫困。     

机会平等与财政转移支付

本文提出机会平等导向的政府间财政转移支付优化设计思路,即转移支付应补偿处于不利环境的地方政府,但不应补偿公共服务供给努力程度不足的地方政府。在此基础上,运用Roemer和Moreno-Ternero的机会平等分析框架,以及中国2000—2006年地级市的数据,评估省以下财政转移支付体系的机会平等效应,并对实现最优机会平等目标的转移支付配置方案进行测算。实证结果显示:(1)现有总转移支付有效降低了地方自有财政收入的机会不平等程度,但与最优配置方案相比,总转移支付过度向东部地区倾斜,其政策效应还存在较大提升空间。(2)专项补助的机会平等效应最高,税收返还的机会平等效应最弱,一般财力性转移支付的机会平等效应提升最为明显。(3)与最优配置方案相比,税收返还的区域配置最不合理,一般财力性转移支付的区域配置相对而言最为合理。     

完善中国政府间转移支付的路径选择

作为分权化财政体制的组成部分,政府间转移支付在不同制度环境下产生的效果也存在很大差异。中国自上而下的财政分权强调更多的是发挥中央政府的宏观调控作用和保证中央政府取得足够的财政资源,因此转移支付在很大程度上被用于弥补地方财政缺口,成为中央政府实现纵向控制的重要手段。改进中国转移支付体系的策略应当是进一步完善以公式为基础的分配标准,并在政治上可行的情况下促进均等化。     

财政分权、转移支付与土地财政:基于中国地市级面板数据的实证研究

文章采用中国地市级面板数据,实证分析分税制背景下的财政分权与转移支付对土地财政的影响。研究发现,地市级政府支出分权明显高于收入分权,存在财力和事权的不对等。收入分权与土地财政没有显著关系,支出分权与土地财政显著正相关,这说明分税制引致地方政府事权的不断扩大是引发土地财政的主要原因。政府间转移支付与土地财政显著负相关,这说明加大转移支付力度能有效缓解土地财政。上述关系还受到地域的影响,在西部地区影响关系最为显著。     

集权与分权的抉择—改革开放30年中国财政体制的变迁

中国财政体制的演变反映出财政分权程度不仅没有提高,反而出现了财政集权的趋势;当前中央和地方间的事权错位,财权上移,事权下放,导致基层政府的支出责任过大;不当的事权和财权的划分造成了我国财政纵向不平衡较高,地方政府对中央政府的依赖度较高,但税收控制度低;财政分权对政府规模、经济增长和收入分配等有着不确定的影响;未来的改革还需要在进一步权衡分权和集权优劣的基础上作出选择,适当的分权是大势所趋。     

新型城镇化背景下的中央地方财政关系调整

健全农业迁移人口市民化机制、完善财政转移支付制度是新时期新型城镇化战略的关键。本文在Blouri&Ehrlich(2020)的基础上，构建了一个包含户籍、人口流动、区域间贸易和集聚外部性的量化空间一般均衡模型，探究了新型城镇化背景下的最优转移支付和分成比例设计。研究发现：(1)目前的财政转移支付政策使各省人均收入平均提高0.9775%,社会整体福利提高了12.6007%,当转移支付达到最优空间分布时，福利水平将在此基础上再提升4.7013%。(2)户籍制度完全放开能够显著促进区域人口流动，并通过“集聚效应”促进生产率增长和社会福利改进。户籍放开后，保持现行最高福利水平的条件下，中央财政转移支出可缩减9.9473%。(3)新型城镇化的实现是以中央转移支付为前提的，而中央转移支付制度的有效运转则取决于中央财政分权比例的提高。因此，在户籍放开的同时，需要提高中央财政分权中的分成比例，才能实现社会最优的财政支出结构和最优社会福利。     

政府间财政转移支付、激励效应与 地方税收收入体系

如何维护地方税收体系的有效性，始终是财政分权化改革的核心。本文以我国县级财政实践为基础，系统考察了政府间财政转移支付的税收激励作用及其在维护地方税收体系有效性方面的作用。研究表明，我国省级以下财政转移支付在税收激励方面并不成功，未能在促进县级地方税收收入增加、维护县级地方税收体系有效性方面发挥积极作用，2002年所得税分享改革以来东部地区表现得尤为突出。专项转移支付具有良好的激励作用，有利于县级地方税收收入特别是营业税和增值税共享收入的增加，税收返还和财力性转移支付均不利于县级地方税收收入增加。     

中国式财政分权、公共支出结构与收入分配

财政分权是否有利于改善收入分配一直以来是国内外公共经济学文献关注的焦点。本文从理论上厘清财政分权对收入分配的影响机制,从而真正理解中国地方政府再分配政策失灵的根源,以公共支出结构作为门槛变量,通过建立面板门槛模型实证考察了1995—2012年中国式财政分权对收入差距的影响效应。研究结果发现：第一,从总体上,中国式财政分权与基尼系数呈正相关,即分权程度每增加1个单位会导致基尼系数增加1.24个百分点。第二,财政分权对收入差距存在显著的非线性作用,即存在门槛效应,在不同的公共支出结构下影响效应明显不同。第三,公共支出结构的门槛效应并没有保持连续一致的积极影响,而是不稳定地分布在不同地区,并由西部地区逐渐向东部地区转移。     

收入不平等、政策偏向与最优财政再分配政策

本文构建的理论模型探讨了收入不平等、政策偏向与最优财政再分配之间的关系。模型显示:政策偏向是收入不平等与财政再分配恶性循环的决定因素。当政策偏向于穷人时,最优财政再分配系统的选择是提高税率,扩大对穷人的转移支付;当政策偏向于富人时,最优财政再分配系统的选择是降低税率,减少对穷人的转移支付。依据中国数据的实证研究发现:(1)中国收入不平等不断恶化,针对恶化的不平等而采取的财政再分配政策效果差,没能扭转不平等恶化趋势,政策偏向严重。(2)税收再分配政策偏向富人,使富人税负相对轻于穷人,居民收入不平等加剧;偏向于穷人的转移支付多为消费券(物),导致越扶越贫。为此,需要从调整所得税和转移支付政策等方面采取相关对策。     

Federal fiscal transfer rules in monetary unions

This paper considers simple rules for federal fiscal transfers that automatically redistribute funds among member states of a monetary union to counteract adverse idiosyncratic shocks. The transfer rules target regional differences in nominal GDP, consumption spending, labor income, and fiscal deficits. Targeting regional fiscal deficits is the only rule that reduces consumption fluctuations and that promotes interregional consumption risk sharing, but the overall welfare effect is negative. In contrast, targeting regional differences in labor income yields the largest welfare gains, but it also yields the largest fluctuations in consumption and real GDP. It is demonstrated that the welfare gains primarily stem from reducing the allocative inefficiency of input factors caused by nominal rigidities. The optimal transfer rule essentially implies a combination of consumption spending and labor income targeting, and it primarily targets the allocative inefficiency of factor inputs at the cost of lower interregional consumption risk sharing.     

A positive model of overlapping income taxation in a federation of states

This paper develops a positive theory of overlapping income taxation in a federation of states. The analysis provides a complete characterization of the equilibrium federal and states tax rates as functions of the level of total productivity dispersion between the states. The federal rate is increasing in the level of total productivity dispersion between the states, even if the income of the decisive voter at the federal level is above the mean income. Given that the individuals' income is endogenously determined there exists a negative trade-off between the implemented federal tax rate and the resulting states' tax rates, regardless of the pre-tax income of the decisive voter at the state level. Thus, high levels of productivity dispersion between the states cause a higher than optimal federal tax rate together with low states' tax rates. It is also shown that a system of overlapping income taxation is not efficient. The resulting inefficiency might be exacerbated by the implementation of a federal matching grants program, contradicting previous results in the related normative literature.     

The Efficiency Consequences of Local Revenue Equalization: Tax Competition and Tax Distortions

This paper shows how a popular system of federal revenue equalization grants can limit tax competition among subnational governments, correct fiscal externalities, and increase government spending. Remarkably, an equalization grant can implement efficient policy choices by regional governments, even in the presence of differences in regional tax capacity, tastes for public spending, and population. If aggregate tax bases are elastic, however, equalization leads to excessive taxation. Efficiency can be achieved by a modified formula that equalizes a fraction of local revenue deficiencies equal to the fraction of taxes that are shifted backward to factor suppliers.     

Competing in taxes and investment under fiscal equalization

The paper considers a model of federation with two heterogeneous regions that try to attract the capital by competing in capital income taxes and public investment that enhance the productivity of capital. Regions' choices determine allocation of capital across the regions and their revenues under a tax sharing scheme. This framework allows for the examination of different approaches to fiscal equalization schemes [Boadway, R., Flatters, F., 1982. Efficiency and equalization payments in a federal system of government: a synthesis and extension of recent results, Canadian Journal of Economics 15, 613-633; Weingast, B.R., 2006. Second Generation Fiscal Federalism: Implication for Decentralized Democratic Governance and Economic Development, Working Paper, Hoover Institution, Stanford University]. We show that tax competition distorts (downwards) public investments and that the equalization grants discourage public investments with a little effect on equilibrium taxes. However, the equalization schemes remain beneficial not only for the federation and, under a low degree of regional asymmetry, also for each region.     

Tax harmonization and tax competition in the European Union: Lessons from Switzerland

This paper presents empirical evidence on individual income tax competition in Switzerland. Tax competition has some influence on the spread of people with high income over the cantons, and it is partly capitalised in dwelling rents. However, it neither leads to a collapse of public good supply nor makes redistribution by the fiscal authorities impossible. Thus, if tax competition works well in Switzerland there is no reason why it should have disastrous effects in a future European Union.     

财政政策、货币政策与国外经济援助

本文通过把国外经济援助分成直接对私人的经济援助和直接对政府的经济援助来讨论这两类经济援助对政府财政政策和货币政策的影响。我们发现对私人的经济援助的增加可以使得私人消费水平和政府公共消费水平增加 ,但是它也导致政府收入税税率和通货膨胀率的提高 ;另一方面 ,对政府的经济援助增加可以使得均衡时的私人资本存量、私人消费水平和政府公共消费水平增加 ,同时可以使得均衡时的收入税税率和通货膨胀率下降。     

Majority Voting over Publicly Provided Goods, Redistribution, and Income Taxation

Federal, state, and many local governments make decisions that involve taxation, redistribution, and provision of public goods. Positive models to study these issues encounter the well‐known problem that majority‐voting equilibrium (MVE) may fail to exist in such multidimensional models. In this paper, with reasonable restrictions on preferences, I provide sufficient conditions for the existence of an MVE in a model with linear income tax and government expenditure policies that affect individual labor/leisure choices. My majority‐voting result takes account of the possibility that low‐skill individuals will drop out of the labor force under some tax and expenditure configurations.     

Fiscal financing and the efficacy of fiscal policy in Korea: An empirical assessment with comparison to the U.S. evidence

This paper aims to assess the empirical implications of fiscal financing in Korea and study how they differ from those of the U.S. We estimate two versions of the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model—a small open economy (SOE) model for Korea and its closed economy counterpart for the U.S.—in which the former nests the latter as a special case. The fiscal policy specification posits that government spending, lump-sum transfers, and distortionary taxation on labor income, capital income and consumption expenditures respond to the level of government debt and the state of economic activity. Analysis of the data from 2000 to 2015 shows that distortionary capital taxes play a critical role in stabilizing government debt in the U.S., whereas non-distorting fiscal instruments are the primary means of fiscal adjustment in Korea. Regarding the magnitude of debt-financed fiscal stimuli, the substantial trade openness of Korea is significant in that it produces relatively smaller government spending and transfer multipliers compared to the U.S.     

Asymptotic Marginal Tax Rate of Individual Income Tax in China

This paper examines the asymptotic marginal rate of individual income tax which maximizes China's social welfare through numerical simulation based on the elasticity of China's labor supply, income distribution and the social objectives of redistribution in accordance with the optimal direct taxation theory. Taking advantage of the optimal direct taxation model with consideration of the income effect, it comes to the conclusion that combined with China's reality, the asymptotic marginal rate of individual labor income tax in China should be between 35% and 40%.     

Capital income taxation,tax criteria,and intergenerational welfare

In a two-period overlapping-generations model, residence criteria are shown to be optimal with lump-sum transfers to the younger generation in a dynamically efficient open economy even if all wage income, corresponding to rent income under exogenous labor supply, is not taxed away. When tax revenues are also distributed to the older generation — which indeed may be desirable for short-term intergenerational welfare distribution reasons — a weighted average rule is derived for optimal international taxation. The taxation of domestic savings income follows the inverse elasticity rule in respect to savings and, surprisingly, higher investment elasticity increases the tax level. Finally, for a small open economy and for large identical economies, tax competition with a mixed scheme of residence-based taxes and source-based subsidies yields the same tax policy as tax cooperation with no restrictions on the domestic and international capital income tax instruments.