China Public Budget Reform (Rationalization and Democratization)

Author: Ma Jun
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Features: The rationalization and democratization of the national system is a very important aspect of China's institutional transformation. This book studies these two major issues in the field of public perception. The economic reforms of 1978 gradually transformed China from a "self-sufficient state" into a "tax state," posing significant challenges to China's finance and budget. Before 1999, China's fiscal reforms primarily focused on revenue to address these challenges, without substantial reforms in expenditure management. In 1999, China finally shifted the focus of its fiscal reforms to expenditure management, restructuring China's budget system. How should we understand China's current budget reforms? What are the short-term and long-term goals of China's budget reforms? What changes and achievements have emerged in China's budget after the reforms, and what problems still remain? How should we study the budget to promote China's budget reforms? These are the questions this book addresses.
Around these issues, over the past two years, I have engaged in theoretical reflections and field research. The eight papers included in this book are the results of these reflections and research. The first paper in this book analyzes the emergence and maintenance of constitutional systems, particularly representative democracy, from a fiscal history perspective. The third and fourth papers focus on the short-term and long-term goals of China's budget reforms. The fifth, sixth, and seventh papers delve into the "real world" of China's budget, with these three papers being empirical studies on local budget reforms in China. The last paper explores how to conduct budget research in China.