Artificial Administrative Boundaries: Evidence from China
2018/12/20
研討會日期 : 2018-12-20
時間 : 14:30
主講人 : Professor Tuan-Hwee Sng (孫傳偉)
主持人 : Professor Terry Cheung
地點 : Conference Room B110
演講者簡介 : Professor Sng received his Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in 2011. He is currently an Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore. His research fields are Economic History and Political Economy with a focus on East Asia.
演講摘要 : What happens when subnational boundaries are badly drawn? We use China as a test case to investigate the ramifications. As Chinese provincial and longstanding socioeconomic boundaries are not fully aligned, counties of the same province may not share the same regional identity. Using Deng Xiaoping's economic decentralization campaign in 1991–92 to implement a difference-in-differences design, we find that the growth paths of aligned and misaligned counties diverged after Deng's campaign galvanized the provinces to pursue faster growth. We also find evidence of discrimination against the misaligned counties by the provincial authorities. Our findings shed new light on the economic consequences of administrative boundaries; they also contribute to the debate on whether decentralization enhances or reduces welfare by highlighting an efficiency-equity tradeoff when boundaries are misaligned.
