Measurement and Decomposition of Regional Differences in Performance of Fiscal Expenditure on Agriculture
MAO Hui1,2, YU Shuang1, ZHANG Sheng-nan1
1.School of Public Finance and Taxation, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China; 2.China’s Income Distribution Research Center, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Abstract Using provincial panel data of China from 2007 to 2014, this paper studies the regional differences of fiscal expenditure on agriculture from two perspectives of both absolute and relative scales. Then it carries out an empirical analysis of the performance of fiscal expenditure on agriculture in each province by constructing an index system which includes both economic benefits and social efficiency. The results show that on one hand, there are distinct differences in performance among different regions. The characteristic of pure technical efficiency and comprehensive efficiency is descending gradually from the east to west. The scale efficiency is the highest in the middle region, while being the lowest in the western region. The scales of fiscal expenditure on agriculture are near optimization in most provinces, but are inadequate in some western provinces. On the other hand, the low efficiency of pure technology is the main reason for the low performance. Therefore, the focus of improving China’s fiscal expenditure performance should be enhancing management efficiency rather than expanding investment.
MAO Hui,TU Shuang,ZHANG Qing-Nan. Measurement and Decomposition of Regional Differences in Performance of Fiscal Expenditure on Agriculture. Economic Survey, 2018, 35(3): 0144.
2018, Vol. 35 
