Basic Public Services (BPS) and Regional Development ——Evidence for China, 2010

Abstract

This paper attempts to specify a public economic theory to explain the differences and the institutional or political causations of across-regional BPS non-equalization. Factor Analysis method is introduced to make clear some of the intricate relationship between these factors, as listed in the paper as basic education, public health, etc., which exert an influence on the non-equalization of BPS. In this way, a comparison can be made between the developments of different regions, and thus factors that cause the differences can be analyzed. For our empirical application, we focus on China’s transition economy, which can offer a broad range of institutional environments to examine the relationship between the supply of BPSs and regional development.

Keywords: regional development, BPSs, Factor Analysis