Establishing a new intergovernmental fiscal transfer system in China: The state of the field, 1994-2010

This article reviews 31 academic studies on establishing the intergovernmental fiscal transfer system in China since 1994. These studies were selected from major academic journals published in mainland China and reviewed by their theme-design of the transfer system, transfers for equalization, local fiscal stress and tax efforts, rural tax/fees reform, outcome evaluation, and routes of development. The article starts by placing China's economic reform and government roles into the general framework of industrialization and human development; it ends with a section critiquing research reviewed and linking the reviewed studies to existing literature in the West.