Fiscal decentralization has been a fundamental aspect of China's transition to a market economy; and the country has made substantial efforts to break down its highly centralized fiscal management system with various forms of fiscal contracting systems (1978-1993) and later a tax sharing system...

This paper sheds light on the heavy financial burden on peasants in China's fiscal decentralization system. Using a political economy framework, this paper explores the tax-farming nature of China's fiscally decentralized system and examines why the system incurs a particularly heavy financial...

Understanding the logic of fiscal decentralization is pivotal to the next steps of fiscal reform. The first step is a retrospection of the literature and evidence accumulated in the field. As a typical transition economy with rapid and extensive devolution reforms, China is the ideal context to...

We analyse the economic impacts of place-based policies that aim to enhance economic development by stimulating growth and productivity of firms in designated areas. We use unique panel data from China with information on manufacturing firms’ production factors, productivity and location, and...

This paper examines the ability of place-based policies in China to foster agglomeration economies via Marshallian-based externalities that are expected to arise due to the reduction in transports costs associated with supplier-buyer linkages, labor pooling and knowledge spillovers. Empirically,...

We analyse the economic impacts of place-based policies that aim to enhance economic development by stimulating growth and productivity of firms in designated areas. We use unique panel data from China with information on manufacturing firms' production factors, productivity and location, and we...

This paper evaluates the causal relationship between economic and development zones (EDZs) and the productivity of a large sample of incumbent firms in China. I take into account possible different selection mechanisms across two popular types of EDZs – economic and technological development...

This paper examines the impact of economic and development zones (EDZs) on the productivity of incumbent firms in China. To deal with the selection issue, I first take into account potentially different selection mechanisms across two popular types of EDZs – economic and technological...

This paper studies whether Chinese provinces set strategically their environmental stringency when faced with interprovincial competition for mobile capital. Using Chinese provincial data and spatial panel econometric models, we find that Chinese provinces do engage in this kind of strategic...

Unlike local governments in western countries, local Chinese governments are prevented from directly issuing debt to fund mandated capital projects. As a result of recent fiscal stresses and restrictions placed on local governments, China has developed a unique funding source, known as Local...