The History, Status Quo And Future Options Of China's Rural Public Goods Supply System

Rural public goods are non-exclusive and non-competitive products in rural areas, and play a vital role in rural economic development. With the development of the rural economy, and incomes raised, living standards of rural residents were improved; certainly, it increased the demand for public goods. The contradiction between increasing demand for rural public goods and relatively slow supply has been one of the important factors in China's rural economic development. But the short supply of rural public goods limits the growth of the income of farmers, delays the intensive agriculture and industrializing, and impossible to achieve building new socialist rural. So, it is critical to resolve rural public goods supply problems for solving the agricultural, rural and fanners' problems. In a long run, the short supply of rural public goods even affected the entire social stability. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to make research of China's rural public goods supply, and intensive of finding the best way of rural public goods supply.Based on the institution transition of rural public goods' supply, this dissertation uses theory of public economics, and analyzes system features of China's rural public goods supply since 1949, and induces the features from the people's communes, the household contract responsibility system, until the tax reform. From the perspective of rural public goods supply system remaining unchanged, there are several common problems. 1. Compared to the city's supply of public goods, there is institutional discrimination in rural system. 2. Supply of rural public goods drift apart from the supply system. 3. There is a dislocation in rural public goods supply; goods which are needed by farmers are serious shortage. But goods which are not needed by farmers are relatively more. 4. Disadvantaged status of peasants makes public goods supply dislocation, higher government transfers responsibility to lower, the grass-roots governments are unable to supply owing to limited financial resources. These problems boil down to one point, which is unilateral supply model of government from the top downward. With tax reform, the grass-roots government revenue substantially decreased. And the rural public goods become almost zero supply. The government unilaterally supply mode was resulted in multiple problems, and the goods are serious shortage in rural. underThis dissertation gives the re-definition of public goods, and supply suggestion based on the definition. In order to achieve effective rural public goods supply, first it's necessary to clear main body of goods supply; second, supply should base on demand-oriented of peasants, and government should establish the public goods supply mechanism which expresses the wishes of peasants. In this clue, the state should set up a standard system of constraints to the supply of public goods in rural areas, the research concentrates on the grassroots' evaluation mechanism, the supply of public goods system's decision-making mechanism, case-by-case approval, government's rights, responsibilities and benefits, and the institutionalization of rural security system. Rural public goods supply should not drift apart from the system, in order to avoid the supply of public goods in rural arbitrariness, it is necessary to institutionalize the system.