Financing Rural Development For A Harmonious Society In China: Recent Reforms In Public Finance And Their Prospects

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Betting on the strong: Local government resource allocation in China's poverty counties

“…4 Fiscal reforms are reshaping the relative power of each level of local government. While township governments are in decline, the position of county governments has been strengthened thanks to their role in managing growing fiscal transfers, and through streamlining initiatives such as "provinces managing counties", which removes a layer of government (the prefecture) in the flow of resources, and "counties managing township finances" (Fock and Wong, 2008;Oi et al, 2012;Wong, 2013). The suggestion that township governments have been hollowed out (Smith, 2010;G€ obel, 2011) is indeed true for Ji County's township governments, which have few resources at their disposal, a declining number of personnel and an increasingly ambiguous role.…”

An update on fiscal reform

“…For weaknesses of the systems of monitoring and evaluation, see Wong (2012Wong ( , 2013a. 9 See World Bank (2007) and Fock and Wong (2008) for problems of rural public finance and service delivery, and Lin and Wong (2012) for examples of problems in the design and distribution of rural subsidies. government financial oversight.…”

Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones: Grassroots Democracy with Chinese Characteristics

“…Deng defined Xiaokang shehui with reference to a target per capita GDP of US $800 by 2000. Because of China's rapid economic growth, a Xiaokang shehui as defined by Deng was roughly achieved-at least in China's urban areas-by the end of the 20th Century [10].…”