Fiscal Policy, Regional Disparity and Poverty in China : A General Equilibrium Approach

The main objective of this research is to analyze the effects of the fiscal dimension of China’s government transfer and preferential tax policy on regional income disparity and poverty reduction. Using a computable general equilibrium model with a three-region component, we find that the preferential tax policy on the eastern coastal region of China has a significant effect on household income, as well as on the FGT indicator. The simulation results suggest that tax policy is a more effective tool to counter against China’s regional disparity than government transfer