关键词: 对口支援, 横向转移支付, 支出结构

Abstract: Like the central vertical transfer payment, the inter-provincial horizontal transfer payment plays an important role in the regional balanced development strategy. However, little research has paid attention to it. This paper takes advantage of the exogenous changes brought about by the “19 provinces and cities counterpart support policy” implemented in Xinjiang in 2010, and adopts the DID method to evaluate the characteristics of government expansion and expenditure structure bias caused by horizontal transfer payments. The findings are as follows: (1) In terms of government scale, inter-provincial counterpart support has promoted the significant expansion of local government fiscal expenditure; (2) In terms of government expenditure bias, the aid funds obtained by local governments have typical asymmetric features in the expenditure structure, which is severely biased towards the expenditure direction of “strong visibility, easy assessment and quick results”. The poverty alleviation goal of counterpart assistance makes local government financial expenditures have a certain livelihood orientation. But it is still mainly reflected in the direction of productive livelihood projects with strong visibility, while non-productive livelihood expenditures are relatively insufficient. In this regard, combined with the counterpart support system, the article carries out theoretical analysis and interpretation from the perspective of local officials' assessment.

Key words: Counterpart Assistance, Horizontal Transfer Payment, Expenditure Structure