Research On The Equalization Of My Country's Basic Public Services Under The Fiscal Decentralization System

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes that,the equalization of basic public services will be basically realized from 2020 to 2035.In the context of the continuous deepening of the reform of the financial system,studying the effects of fiscal decentralization,transfer payments,and tax competition on the equalization of basic public services can provide policy recommendations for the further advancement of the reform.In the framework of fiscal decentralization between the central and local governments,this article establishes a comprehensive basic public service indicator system,covering five categories,including public health,basic public education,basic public culture,infrastructure and environmental protection,social security and employment and entrepreneurship services.Primary indicators and eighteen types of secondary indicators.The general public entropy method is used to measure the basic public service indexes of 31 provinces(cities)in China from 2009 to 2018.Based on this,the Gini coefficient,the coefficient of variation,and the Atkinson measure are used to calculate the degree of equalization of basic public services across provinces in China from 2009 to 2018.Then analyze the factors that affect the supply of basic public services.First,theoretically analyze the influence mechanism of government decentralization,transfer payment system and tax competition on the equalization of basic public services under the framework of fiscal decentralization,and then the entire panel data is empirically analyzed by using a fixed?effects model.The empirical results show that fiscal decentralization and transfer payments are positively related to the supply of basic public services.Post?tax competition can play a marginal role in regulating transfer payments and weaken the positive effect of transfer payments to a certain extent.Finally,according to the empirical conclusions,from the perspective of the system,institution,and government behavior,further suggestions are put forward to promote the equalization of basic public services under the fiscal decentralization system,including improving fiscal decentralization and improve local fiscal systems;improving transfer payments to avoid negative adjustment of tax competition;promoting coordinated development of government competition and transfer payments;taking residents' needs as the guide to improve the level and quality of supply.