This paper examines how a fiscal equalization system affects the disciplining effect of competition for capital among heterogeneous regions in a decentralized economy. I build a model in which regions that are heterogeneous in initial endowments try to attract capital by competing public input...

In the late 1990s, China enacted a rural tax reform known as the "Tax-for-Fee Reform" (TFR), largely driven by a desire to address farmers' complaints about their perception of a heavy and regressive tax burden. This paper examines the impact of the TFR on inequality in rural villages in China....

China enacted a rural tax reform - the 'Tax-for-Fee Reform' (TFR) - in the late 1990s. A crucial but unanswered question is whether this reform improved farmers' welfare in rural areas. This article uses village-level survey data from the Chinese Household Income Project in order to examine the...

The main objective of the paper is to propose a framework in which fiscal health conditions can be assessed and the main determinants affecting fiscal health can be identified, inspite of severe data constraints. The paper draws on big urban agglomerations in India as well as smaller cities as a...

In this paper we examine the Stackelberg equilibrium in a public input competition model. We demonstrate that the issue of over-provision of public inputs raised in the standard fiscal competition literature may be less strong than predicted, provided that competing jurisdictions are more likely...

This paper examines the potential tradeo between economic growth and income inequality in the design of tax structure by using a structural model and a large panel data set of 150 developed and developing countries for the period 1970-2009. Tax structure, which is treated as an endogenous...

This paper examines how a scal equalization system a ects the disciplining e ect of competition for capital among heterogeneous regions in a decentralized economy. I build a model in which regions that are heterogeneous in initial endowments try to attract capital by competing public input that...

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the extent and possible channels of tax competition among provincial governments in China. Using a panel of provincial- level data for 1993-2007, we nd strong evidence of strategic tax interaction among provincial governments. Tax policy is...

This paper examines the Stackelberg equilibrium for public input competition and compares it with the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium. Given two asymmetric regions, we show that under the Nash equilibrium, the more productive region tends to spend more on public input, which results in this...

The main transfer instrument from the central governments to local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines, the IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment), introduced in 2001, has been criticized for two main failings: its inability to equalize sufficiently, especially regarding the poorer...