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Browsing by Author "Wang, Wen"
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Item Decomposing inequality in compulsory education finance in China: 1998-2008.(2014-10) Wang, WenIn recent decades, the inequality in compulsory education finance in China has remained a widespread and serious problem. Based on a provincial-level dataset in the period of 1998-2008, this study analyzed the disparities of school funding in China, attempting to explore the important factors that may have contributed to the inequality. Using the methods of factor decomposition and regression-based decomposition of Gini coefficient, it showed that the inequality of school funding had not been reduced after recent governmental reforms. The level of economic development appeared to be highly associated with the inequality of expenditures for compulsory education. The empirical results of this analysis suggest that a sound system of intergovernmental fiscal transfers with built-in equalization features may need to be developed in China.Item Determinants of Expenditure Decentralization: Evidence from China(2013-03) Wu, Alfred M.; Wang, WenThis study is the first attempt to examine the determinants of expenditure decentralization at sub-provincial levels in China. The Chinese central government gives detailed guidelines to local governments on public finance, but, ironically, their expenditure assignment is far from being well-regulated. Differences in fiscal decentralization on the expenditure side are enormous among local governments. Employing a panel dataset of 1995-2006, we provide empirical evidence that transfer dependency negatively affects expenditure decentralization in Chinese local governments. It suggests that intermediate governments, i.e. provincial governments, may have “grabbed” central grants for self-interests.Item Determinants of Land Finance in China: A Study Based on Provincial-level Panel Data(Wiley, 2013-10) Ye, Fangzhi; Wang, Wen; School of Public and Environmental AffairsTapping land values to raise extra-budgetary funds for local coffers has been a prominent fiscal phenomenon in many developing countries. This article, based on a provincial-level panel dataset for the period 1999-2009, examines the factors behind Chinese local governments’ reliance on land finance. Our analysis shows that intergovernmental fiscal arrangements, such as the central-provincial fiscal imbalance, and the lack of adequate revenue capacity of sub-provincial governments, have encouraged local governments to exploit land leasing. There is also evidence suggesting that political factors might have a significant impact on land finance arrangements, but these tentative results need further investigation. This research contributes to the body of literature on intergovernmental fiscal relations, and improves our understanding of the dynamics and complexity of land finance arrangements in China. Policy implications are drawn from this analysis for further reforms of land management and intergovernmental financing in China and other developing countries facing similar challenges.Item Do Local Governments Save and Spend across Budget Cycles? Evidence from North Carolina(2012-03) Wang, Wen; Hou, YilinThe fiscal crisis encountered by state-local governments since 2008 has again made prominent the issue of how to better prepare for and stabilize expenditures during recessions. Does the stabilization function of government, and its theory, still hold? Previous studies focus on federal and state levels; only a few look at local governments. This article explores whether localities save and spend across the boom-bust cycle; we intend to identify the determinants of local government savings and estimate the impact of savings on stabilizing expenditures. Unlike some early evidence that shows countercyclical stabilization properties of local unreserved general fund balance, the empirical results of our study on North Carolina counties do not support the stabilization role by localities. This study carries timely and important implications for state/local policy making and financial operations; it also adds to the literature on the stabilization function of government.Item The Effects of Political and Fiscal Incentives on Local Government Behavior – An Analysis of Fiscal Slack in China(Taylor and Francis, 2016) Wang, Wen; School of Public and Environmental AffairsThis study examines the determinants of fiscal slack from the perspective of Chinese local government officials. Given China's rapid economic growth over the past 30-plus years, Chinese local governments reportedly hold huge slack resources that attract public scrutiny. In an effort to improve their fiscal performance, some localities recently established budget stabilization funds, following a top-down initiative. However, it remains unclear to what extent fiscal slack has accumulated and which factors affect slack resource levels of Chinese local governments. By employing a panel dataset (249 prefecture-level cities, 1999–2009), this study finds that political and fiscal factors exert significant influence over local officials’ decisions about slack resource levels. The findings of the study bear implications for establishing fiscal rules and improving the performance of sub-national governments in China and other countries.Item Fiscal Effects of Local Option Sales Tax on School Facilities Funding: Evidence from North Carolina(2010-09) Wang, Wen; Zhao, Zhirong JerrySince the 1970s, the North Carolina Legislature has authorized its counties to levy four local option sales taxes (LOST). Proceeds from two of them are partially restricted for school capital needs; two other LOST are used to augment counties’ general revenues that may also affect school capital funding. Experiences from other states have raised concerns that the adoption of LOST may increase inequality in school finance, but the empirical results have been mixed. Using a data set of one hundred North Carolina county school districts from 2004 to 2006, this study examines how public school facilities are funded, and investigates whether the adoption of LOST aggravates or alleviates inequality in public school capital revenues in the state.Item Pay-as-You-Go Financing and Capital Outlay Volatility: Evidence from the States over Two Recent Economic Cycles(2009-12) Wang, Wen; Hou, YilinPay-as-you-go (pay-go or cash) and pay-as-you-use (pay-use or debt) are two mechanisms to finance capital projects. While pay-go faces multiple constraints, pay-use smoothes outlays, stabilizes tax rates, and improves inter-generational equity. Thus, pay-use has dominated infrastructure financing for decades. In recent years, there has been revived academic interest in pay-go as an alternate financing mechanism; however, there is a large gap in the literature and inadequate evidence on the effects of pay-go, especially its effects on capital outlay volatility. This paper fills in the niche. Examining state experience over the two recent economic cycles, this paper finds evidence that suggests that pay-go is associated with lower volatility in capital spending in the long run, but may increase short-run variability. We recommend that states couple pay-go in boom years with pay-use in lean years. In unison, the two mechanisms can reduce aggregate volatility and increase long-run stability of capital expenditures.Item Rural Taxation Reforms and Compulsory Education Finance in China(2010-05) Wang, Wen; Zhao, Zhirong JerryIn recent decades, the responsibility for the financing of compulsory education in rural China has rested with townships and villages which, with limited tax authority and uneven revenue capacity, increasingly relied on a plethora of arbitrarily imposed fees for funding. To reduce farmers‘ fiscal burdens, since 2000 the central government has installed a series of rural taxation reforms. Correspondingly, the central government shifted the administrative responsibilities of rural compulsory education to the county level in 2001, and implemented a series of policies to make up for the loss of revenues to education. Using a provincial-level dataset from 1998 to 2006, this study examines whether and how the rural taxation reforms have affected the adequacy and equality of compulsory education finance in China, and addresses related theoretical and policy implications from the perspective of intergovernmental fiscal relations.Item School district responses to matching aid programs for capital facilities: A case study of New York's building aid program(2010-06) Wang, Wen; Duncombe, William; Yinger, JohnStates are financing a larger share of capital investment by school districts but little is known about district response to facility aid programs. This paper addresses this gap by examining how a short-term increase in the matching rate for the Building Aid program in New York affected district capital investment decisions. We estimate a capital investment model and find that most districts are responsive to price incentives but that price responsiveness is related to the fiscal health and urban location of the district, we provide recommendations for the design of capital investment aid programs to support high-need urban districts.Item Spatial Decomposition of Funding Inequality in China's Basic Education: A Four-Level Theil Index Analysis(2014) Wang, Wen; Zhao, ZhirongVarious education finance and taxation reforms in the past several decades have substantially changed China’s system for funding basic education, but the present system is still characterized by insufficient funding and large inequalities across localities. Using data of more than 2000 county-level units all over the country during 1998-2005, this study uses Theil index to spatially decompose the pattern of funding inequality in China’s basic education across four geographic and administrative levels. The analysis shows that the level of inequality remained high after the rural taxation and education finance reforms since 2000, despite the efforts to increase education-purpose fiscal transfers to local governments, and that the gaps are especially severe across provinces in the same region and across prefectures in the same province.