Central–provincial sharing of financial responsibilities for China's social safety-net

Abstract

Using Chinese provincial panel data from 2004 to 2014, this paper describes the division of fiscal responsibilities in basic social assistance and services (BSAS): China's social safety-net programme. The results suggest that there has been a recentralization—provinces with weaker economic conditions rely more on central governmental transfers, showing signs of fiscal equalization. The authors did not find any evidence of ethnicity-based preferential treatments.

Keywords:

• Dynamic panel data analysis
• fiscal decentralization
• inter-governmental fiscal relations
• social welfare policy

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hong Yu

Yu Hong is an Associate Professor at the China Public Finance Institute, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China.

Li Wang

Wang Li is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Business Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China.

Zhirong Jerry Zhao

Zhirong Jerry Zhao is Associate Professor at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, USA. He is also a Research Fellow with China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China.