Incentives for local government expenditures on people’s livelihood: the role of high-speed rail

IF 6.2 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Socio-economic Planning Sciences Pub Date : 2023-10-01 DOI:10.1016/j.seps.2023.101700

Xia Meng , Tao Ding , Haisen Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Can high-speed rail (HSR) lines create effective incentives for local governments to supply public goods for people's livelihood? This paper builds a time-varying difference-in-differences (TVDID) model and uses 2002–2018 Chinese data. The empirical results show that HSR enhances the fiscal responsiveness of local governments and creates effective incentives for local governments' expenditures on education and medical/health care; however, this “HSR effect” does not significantly influence expenditures on social security or employment. The mechanism analysis shows that HSR has a significant amplification effect on interregional competition, specifically in terms of market access and human capital agglomeration. Notably, the opening of HSR lines forms a new “incentive-constraint” mechanism for local governments to supply public services for people's livelihood from both the supply and demand sides, and the fiscal and administrative capacities of local governments can strengthen the influence of HSR lines on the supply of public goods for people's livelihood.

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地方政府民生支出的激励措施：高铁的作用

高铁能否有效激励地方政府提供民生公共品?本文采用2002-2018年中国数据，构建时变差中差(TVDID)模型。实证结果表明，高铁提高了地方政府的财政反应性，对地方政府的教育和医疗卫生支出产生了有效的激励;然而，这种“高铁效应”对社会保障或就业支出没有显著影响。机制分析表明，高铁对区域间竞争具有显著的放大效应，特别是在市场准入和人力资本集聚方面。值得注意的是，高铁开通从供给侧和需求侧为地方政府提供民生公共服务形成了新的“激励-约束”机制，地方政府的财政和行政能力可以强化高铁对民生公共产品供给的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Socio-economic Planning Sciences OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE-

CiteScore

9.40

自引率

13.10%

发文量

294

审稿时长

58 days

期刊介绍： Studies directed toward the more effective utilization of existing resources, e.g. mathematical programming models of health care delivery systems with relevance to more effective program design; systems analysis of fire outbreaks and its relevance to the location of fire stations; statistical analysis of the efficiency of a developing country economy or industry. Studies relating to the interaction of various segments of society and technology, e.g. the effects of government health policies on the utilization and design of hospital facilities; the relationship between housing density and the demands on public transportation or other service facilities: patterns and implications of urban development and air or water pollution. Studies devoted to the anticipations of and response to future needs for social, health and other human services, e.g. the relationship between industrial growth and the development of educational resources in affected areas; investigation of future demands for material and child health resources in a developing country; design of effective recycling in an urban setting.