Fiscal Structures and Regional Economic Growth: Evidence from China’s Fiscal Contract System

This paper sets out to examine the impact of the fiscal contract system on economic growth in China’s different provinces. Empirical testing is conducted using the error components model and pooled cross-section (provinces) and time-series data from 1989 to 1993. The empirical results for the whole sample show an inclination towards convergence of regional economic growth, with any increase in regional tax revenue hindering investment and employment due to excessive taxation, which is unfavorable to economic growth. The same finding applies to extra-budgetary revenue. Ranked by their overall strength, the provinces are divided into economically advanced and backward groups for empirical testing. Comparison of the empirical results using a sample of the top and bottom fifteen, in terms of their overall strength, reveals that the economic growth of the top fifteen provinces tends to be divergent. More fiscal revenue and extra-budgetary funds are unfavorable to economic growth and the results are the same for all provinces; the result also remains the same when fiscal revenue is itemized. The difference between the two lies in fiscal expenditure.