| The imbalance and inadequacy of regional development have been the main contradictions faced by China in recent years.Implementing a strategy of coordinated regional development and promoting overall regional coordination is a necessary path to address the problems of regional imbalances and inadequacies.Promoting regional coordination and development requires the implementation of a strategy of coordinated regional development,supporting the accelerated development of ethnic areas,strengthening the construction of border areas,and promoting the development and stability of border areas.The report of the 20 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that achieving regional coordinated development is a long-term strategic goal that China adheres to.It is an important component of the new development concept and an important lever for achieving high-quality development.Coordinated development between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces is an important practice of implementing the strategy of coordinated regional development,addressing the contradiction between the growing aspirations for a better life and the imbalanced and inadequate development,and transforming regional policies from extensive to targeted ones.Fiscal policy is a fundamental policy for the country to coordinate regional development and plays a fundamental and pivotal role in national governance.Therefore,studying the policy effects of coordinating development between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces from the perspective of fiscal policy has a certain reference value for optimizing fiscal policies that promote coordinated development of underdeveloped regions in the future under the strategy of regional coordination.This study analyzes the connotations of coordinated development between Tibet and the four provinces involving Tibetan areas from the perspective of complex ecological system theory and regional development heterogeneity.It further constructs a three-dimensional goal system for the coordinated development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces,combining it with the practical logic of coordinating the development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces.Based on this three-dimensional goal system,the paper clarifies the basic path of fiscal policy to promote regional coordinated development.Consequently,it analyzes the mechanism of fiscal policy in coordinating the development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces and streamlines the working mechanism of fiscal policy in promoting regional coordinated development.Subsequently,this paper reviews the policy sources and development of the coordinated development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces from three aspects: central-local fiscal relations,central fiscal policies related to Tibet,and local government policies related to Tibet.It examines the policy orientation of the coordinated development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces and the fiscal policies implemented based on this in the overall historical context.Then,based on the fiscal policy mechanism of the coordinated development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces constructed in the second chapter,it analyzes the fiscal policy effects of promoting economic convergence,achieving social equity,and coordinating regional ecological civilization construction,taking economic growth gap convergence,promotion of basic public service equalization,and coordinated regional ecological environment governance as the starting point.Empirical analysis is conducted,and based on the theoretical analysis and empirical research results,optimization paths for fiscal policy are proposed,with the aim of improving the effectiveness of fiscal policy in the coordinated development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in the four provinces,making fiscal policy more effective in the context of regional coordinated development strategies.This study has six research contents and conclusions:Firstly,this study clarifies the fundamental path of fiscal policy based on a threedimensional objective system of economics,society,and ecology to promote regional coordinated development.In the process of constructing the theoretical framework,the study defines the essence of regional coordinated development based on theories of regional development coordination,complex ecological systems,and the regional characteristics of Tibet and four adjacent provinces and autonomous regions.It establishes a comprehensive three-dimensional objective system for regional coordinated development.The core path of fiscal policy in promoting regional coordinated development is as follows: I.In the economic dimension,it promotes the convergence of economic growth disparities through fiscal policy,thus achieving economically balanced development and promoting economic coordination.II.In the social dimension,it promotes the equalization of basic public services,drives social equity development,and fosters social coordination.III.In the ecological dimension,it employs policy tools based on core functional zones to facilitate regional ecological environment governance,and improve regional ecological environmental quality,thereby advancing ecological civilization construction,and ultimately achieving regional coordinated development.Secondly,an analysis of the policy origins and development regarding the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces is conducted.The evolution of fiscal policies for the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces has undergone a transition from specialization to differentiation,resulting in the formation of a three-tiered policy framework.From a historical perspective,the policy for the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces emerged as a response to the unclear delineation of authority and fiscal rights following the implementation of the ’tax-sharing system.’ During the transitional period,fiscal transfer payment policies had a limited impact on the fiscal balance of localities,leading to financial difficulties in remote border ethnic regions.The policy for the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces represents a specific practice of China’s regional development strategy,evolving in tandem with the development and transformation of China’s regional coordinated development strategy.The Western Development Strategy served as both the starting point for China’s shift from an unbalanced development strategy to a regional coordinated development strategy and the initiation of the central government’s policy for the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces,laying the foundation for this policy.The expansion of the connotations of regional coordinated development and the introduction of the main functional area strategy during the 17 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China played a pivotal role in shaping the central government’s decision to comprehensively promote the economic and social development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces following the social stability incidents that occurred in these areas in 2008,marking the beginning of the coordinated development phase.In 2015,the policy for the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces was officially proposed,ushering in the phase of coordinated and harmonious development,with the policy framework gradually maturing.In the course of this development,the introduction of the main functional area strategy and the application of fiscal policy tools based on regional differentiation characteristics reflect the central government’s emphasis on a coordinated approach,differentiated policies,and a shift in governance focus from inter-ethnic governance to regional governance.The coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces has also resulted in a three-tiered policy framework,consisting of a generalized regional fiscal policy based on the main functional area strategy and the "Three Regions and Three Prefectures" poverty alleviation and development strategy,differentiated fiscal policies by the central government under the framework of coordinated development,and regional fiscal policies implemented by the Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces based on their primary responsibilities.Thirdly,it provides theoretical analysis and empirical evidence on the mechanism and effects of fiscal policies in promoting economic convergence in the coordinated development between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces.Analyzing the basic facts of economic growth disparities between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces,it is found that there is a convergence trend in the regional economic development disparities.By using the Difference-in-Differences(DID)method and taking the policy of coordinated development between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces as a quasi-natural experiment,empirical analysis is conducted with other minority autonomous prefectures as the control group.The results show that the policy of coordinated development significantly reduces the gap in public fiscal expenditures between the Tibetan areas in four provinces and other regions,and significantly promotes the relative improvement of their economic growth levels.However,the policy effects gradually weaken over time.Further mechanism analysis reveals that after the implementation of the policy of coordinated development between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces,fiscal policies achieve relative economic growth by expanding government expenditures and increasing overall fixed investment.The intermediate effect of fixed asset investment is 0.0534,accounting for 13.37% of the total effect.In addition,fiscal policies under the direction of coordinated development between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces have a positive effect on the development of the secondary industry but do not have a significant impact on the development of the tertiary industry,and they have a certain restraining effect on social consumption in the Tibetan areas in four provinces.Therefore,it is necessary to optimize fiscal policies that promote economic growth convergence between Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces from the perspectives of improving the efficiency of government investment and stimulating social consumption,in order to achieve appropriate economic development.Fourthly,from the perspective of social coordination development,the article analyzes the theoretical and empirical effects of fiscal policy in promoting the equalization of basic public services.By constructing a comprehensive evaluation system for basic public services,the article measures the level of basic public services and the degree of equalization in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces.It is found that after the implementation of the policy of coordinated development,the level of basic public services in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces has been continuously improving from 2007 to 2020,with the fastest improvement during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period and a slowdown during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period.The regional differences in basic public services show a dynamic change of "convergence-divergence-convergence",and overall,the degree of equalization of basic public services has fluctuated and increased.However,in recent years,there is a risk of convergence turning into divergence in the supply of basic public education services,social security,and employment services.The empirical analysis using the fixed-effects model shows that the expansion of local government fiscal expenditure has a significant promoting effect on the level of basic public service supply and equalization in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces.However,the empirical analysis of the policy effects of transfer payments,the main source of local government fiscal capacity,on the quantity and structure of basic public service supply in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces shows that the scale expansion of transfer payments does not have a significant stimulating effect on the improvement of basic public service supply,but it has a positive effect on the equalization of basic public services.Specific transfer payments have a significant incentive effect on the supply of basic public services,while general transfer payments have a restraining effect on the improvement of basic public services.Further examination of the impact of transfer payments on the supply of different types of public goods reveals that specific transfer payments have a positive incentive effect on the supply of social public goods but have a restraining effect on the equalization of basic public services.Based on the empirical analysis results,fiscal policies should be optimized to improve the fiscal equalization effect of transfer payments,enhance the incentive for the supply of basic public services,and improve the management efficiency of fiscal funds in order to promote the equalization of regional basic public services and achieve social coordination in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces.Fifthly,from the perspective of ecological environment coordination,the article analyzes the theoretical and empirical effects of fiscal policy in coordinating regional ecological environment governance.From the current status of regional ecological environment governance,Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces share common characteristics and face obvious deficiencies in ecological environment governance.In terms of the fiscal policy supply for coordinating ecological civilization construction in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces,based on the planning of functional zones,they have received fiscal support for ecological civilization construction,mainly in the form of transfer payments for national key ecological function zones,but the policy lacks coordination.Based on the characteristics of ecological environment governance as a weak point in the ecological civilization construction in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces,the article uses the PSMDID model to empirically analyze the ecological compensation policy,represented by transfer payments for key ecological function zones and finds that the ecological compensation policy has a positive effect on the ecological environment governance in Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces,but the policy effect gradually diminishes over time.Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effects of ecological compensation policy vary for different ecological function zones.Since most ecological function zones span administrative regions,it is necessary to establish a horizontal cooperative environmental governance mechanism that transcends administrative boundaries,implements targeted ecological compensation from the perspective of different ecological function zones,and enhances the regional environmental governance capacity to better construct regional ecological civilization.In addition to establishing a regional environmental governance mechanism,a mechanism for realizing regional ecological values and achieving a positive cycle of ecological environment governance should be constructed to address the problems of regional ecological environment governance from the root cause.Sixthly,through the analysis of the theoretical mechanisms and practical effects of fiscal policy in coordinating the development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces,it is found that coordinating the development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces through fiscal policy is a response of fiscal policy to regional policies within the framework of China’s national governance.It is the practical implementation of the dialogue between fiscal policy and regional policy theories.The response of fiscal policy to regional policies is the orientation of the effects of differentiated fiscal policies implemented in different regions.By combining and overlapping fiscal policy tools,a gradient change of policies between different regions is created.Through differential fiscal allocation and policies such as government expenditure and government investment,the flow of capital,labor,and knowledge elements among regions is guided,spatial redistribution of resources is achieved,and regional development disparities are adjusted to achieve coordinated regional development in response to regional policy goals.The potential innovations of this article are as follows:Firstly,it takes the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces as a necessary approach to address the issues of regional imbalance and insufficient development in China.By analyzing the theoretical dimensions of this coordinated development and examining the practical logic behind it,a threedimensional goal system for the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces is constructed.From a theoretical perspective,the article investigates the basic pathways of fiscal policy in promoting regional coordination and analyzes the mechanisms through which fiscal policy influences this coordination.Furthermore,the article empirically examines the policy effects of fiscal policy in the context of the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces.The research methods employed include the Difference-in-Differences(DID)approach and Propensity Score Matching-Difference-in-Differences(PSM-DID)approach,which extends the evaluation methods for assessing the effects of fiscal policy in the context of the coordinated development of Tibet and Tibetan areas in four provinces.Secondly,the article adopts an input-output perspective and constructs a comprehensive and regionally tailored indicator system for basic public services in Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces.Considering the relatively low urbanization rate in this region,the indicator system incorporates both input and output measures for basic public services,including education,healthcare,social security,and employment services.Furthermore,the article takes into account the characteristics of rural and pastoral areas by including indicators such as minimum rural social security expenditure,basic medical insurance coverage,and basic pension insurance coverage.By utilizing this comprehensive indicator system,the article provides a more comprehensive and region-specific measurement of the level of basic public services in Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces compared to previous studies on equalizing basic public services.Lastly,during the research process,the article improves the availability of basic data related to economic development,basic public services,and environmental governance in the Tibetan areas through methods such as government information disclosure and field investigations.This results in a comprehensive database consisting of 30,841 original data points.This reliable and comprehensive database provides a solid foundation for the quantitative analysis of the effects of fiscal policy in the context of the coordinated development of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces. |
PDF Full Text Request