讲座主题：Fiscal Incentives and Land Finance Cycles of Prefectures in China

　　主讲人：蔡璧涵

　　讲座时间：2018年 5 月 2日上午 10 点00 分

　　讲座地点：B228

　　主办单位：betway必威财税系

　　讲座摘要：Land finance, referring to the local governments who sustain their fiscal expenditure by the revenue generated from land leasehold, has become one of the important major sources of fiscal revenue for Chinese local governments. The spatial allocation of land use constitutes a land-leasing policy operation of local officials, contributing to China’s local economic development and fluctuation. Applying data from 283 prefectural units in China from 2003 to 2012, this paper explores the existence of land finance cycles, focusing on the changes of the amount (as in “area”) of land leasing by negotiation or by auction. The empirical results suggest that land finance cycles in China synchronize with the PCCP (Provincial Congress of the Communist Party) cycles, in which a prefectural leader decreases the amount of land leased through negotiation and increases that of land leased through auction prior to the year of the PCCP. The findings of empirical results are consistent with the prediction of our theoretical model. Additionally, due to the existence of high uncertainty of prefectural leaders’ tenure and political turnover, the effect of prefectural leaders’ tenure on land finance cycles is more apparent in the early years of their tenure. The results indicate that Chinese leaders’ fiscal strategies are likely to be driven by career concerns for the purpose of maximizing a measured economic performance and fiscal rents.

　　主讲简介：蔡璧涵，浙江大学经济学院助理教授。2014年在University of California, Irvine获得经济学博士学位。2014年至今任教于浙江大学。研究领域包括公共经济学, 政治经济学, 应用微观经济学, 实验经济学等。论文发表于Economics of Governance、 European Journal of Political Economy、Developing Economies、International Tax and Public Finance、Public Finance Review等学术期刊。