The Fiscal Logic of Responsiveness: Public Finance, Elections, and Public Goods Provision in Rural China

Governmental fiscal transfers can be important tools for redistributing resources and enhancing public services in areas with limited local resources. Meanwhile, politicians can use fiscal transfers to build patronage networks, weaken opposition candidates, or engage in rent-seeking. An understudied...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in comparative international development 2024-03, Vol.59 (1), p.1-26
Main Author: Lei, Zhenhuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Competition
Elections
Elites
Fiscal transfer
Funding
Government
Influence
Leadership
Local government
Panel data
Patronage
Political leadership
Politicians
Public finance
Public goods
Public services
Rent-seeking
Residents
Responsiveness
Rural areas
Rural communities
Social Sciences
Towns
Townships
Villages
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Governmental fiscal transfers can be important tools for redistributing resources and enhancing public services in areas with limited local resources. Meanwhile, politicians can use fiscal transfers to build patronage networks, weaken opposition candidates, or engage in rent-seeking. An understudied feature of governmental transfers is that local governments can become fiscally dependent on higher-level government. This dependence might lead local officials to favor the priorities of higher-level government while compromising responsiveness to local residents. Using panel data from Chinese villages, I demonstrate that when villages become more dependent on fiscal transfers from townships, they provide fewer public goods to villagers, pay more wages to village elites, and have stronger incentives to enforce the policies favored by higher-level governments. The results also suggest that fiscal transfers will not undermine local representation when electoral competition for village leadership positions exists.
ISSN:0039-3606
1936-6167
DOI:10.1007/s12116-023-09383-2