Fiscal Decentralization, Satisfaction with Social Services, and Inequality Under the Hukou System

Longjin Chen (), Jian Huang () and Jianjun Li ()
Additional contact information
Longjin Chen: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Jian Huang: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Jianjun Li: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2017, vol. 132, issue 1, No 19, 377-394

Abstract: Abstract It is generally agreed that decentralized decision-making is conducive to the efficient allocation of resources, but detrimental to the equitable redistribution of income. This paper is intended to investigate the effect of fiscal decentralization on the delivery of three social services in the Chinese context. Using the data from a nationally representative survey, we find that fiscal decentralization in China, in both expenditure and revenue measures, significantly improves individuals’ satisfaction with social services for the sick, for the elderly, and for the poor. However, in contrast to urban local residents, rural dwellers and unregistered city migrants under the household registration (hukou) system benefit substantially less from the decentralized delivery of social services. These findings are robust to alternative model specifications. Our evidence from China not only sheds new light on the debate over the impact of fiscal decentralization on income redistribution, but also contributes to understanding the role of institutions in determining subjective well-being and its unequal distribution among people.

Keywords: Fiscal decentralization; Subjective well-being; Social services; Hukou; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-016-1258-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:132:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1258-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1258-9

Access Statistics for this article

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement is currently edited by Filomena Maggino

More articles in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().