地区放权与经济效率:以计划单列为例

中国的经济改革始于放权,尤其是对地区的放权。本文以计划单列为例,研究整体性行政放权对经济效率的影响并通过构造省内与省外城市的对比组来估计计划单列的因果效应。研究结果表明:从总体上,放权确实有助于计划单列市提高其经济效率。本文对此结论进行了一系列的稳健性检验。

Regional Decentralization and Economic Efficiency:Evidence from Separate-Planning Cities in China

China started its reforms with the devolution of central power, especially regional decentralization. Based on the experiences of 14 separate-planning cities, this paper tries to examine the effect of regional decentralization on economic efficiency. We estimate the causal effect of separate-planning by constructing two types of control groups, one from intra-province and the other from inter-provinces. There is strong evidence supporting the view that decentralization improves economic efficiency. The basic result is robust to a number of specification tests.