New Development of Fiscal Decentralization in China

Understanding the logic of fiscal decentralization is pivotal for the next steps of fiscal reform, and retrospection of the literature and evidences accumulated in the field is the first step. As a typical transition economy with rapid and extensive devolution reforms, China is the ideal context to examine the causes, processes, and effects of fiscal decentralization, attracting numerous academic endeavors both domestic and abroad. However, the literature has not been fully reviewed and the evidences on fiscal decentralization are still mixed and inconclusive. This paper aims to comprehensively review the latest advancement in the area of fiscal decentralization in China over the past decades. The processes, characteristics, and measurements of fiscal decentralization are firstly reviewed, and the antecedents and consequences of fiscal decentralization are then synthesized. The knowledge gap and avenues for future research are finally discussed, aiming to make the China fiscal decentralization knowledge contributive, accumulative, and sustainable.