Abstract: Urbanization is the necessary path for modern development, and promoting the construction of a new type of urbanization centered on people is a major strategic deployment made by the Party Central Committee for the new era. This paper uses panel data of Chinese cities from 2008 to 2018 to examine the impact and mechanism of local government debt on the construction of new urbanization from the perspective of population agglomeration. It is found that the expansion of local government debt can significantly improve the level of urban population agglomeration, mainly due to the support of government debt funds for urban infrastructure construction and public service improvement, which in turn leads to enterprise agglomeration and population inflow. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the promoting effect of local government debt on urban population agglomeration is mainly reflected in the funds' use for infrastructure investment rather than borrowing new debt funds to repay the old, and cities with higher administrative levels and greater financial pressure. The research in this article indicates that the promotion of new urbanization with a human-centered approach should not only strengthen local government debt governance, but also improve the balanced supply of public resources between regions at the institutional level.

Key words: Local Government Debt, New Urbanization Construction, Population Agglomeration, Public Service Level

摘要： 城镇化是现代化发展的必由之路,而推进以人为核心的新型城镇化建设则是党中央面向新时代作出的重大战略部署。本文利用2008—2018年中国城市面板数据,基于人口集聚的视角考察了地方政府债务对新型城镇化建设的影响及作用机制。研究表明,地方政府债务扩张能够显著提高城市人口集聚水平,这主要是源自政府债务资金对城市基础设施建设和公共服务水平提升的支持,进而带来企业集聚和人口流入。异质性分析发现,地方政府债务对城市人口集聚的促进作用在债务用途为基建投资而非借新还旧时以及行政级别较高、财政压力较大的城市中更为显著。本文的研究意味着以人为核心的新型城镇化建设不仅要强化地方政府债务治理,还要从制度层面改善区域间公共资源的均衡供给。

关键词: 地方政府债务, 新型城镇化建设, 人口集聚, 公共服务水平