Playing Favorites: Tax Incentives and Urban Growth in China, 1978–2010
利用1978-2009年卫星数据，研究中国对企业按地区给予的税收优惠是否促进了城市差异化扩张，发现早期国家级开发区效果显著且持久，省级开发区效果微弱，后期开发区仅在出口优势县有效。
This study examines whether locationally preferential tax incentives for firms encourage differential urban expansion in China. Using satellite-based data from 1978 to 2009, we find that zones established early tend to have large and persistent effects, and that provincially determined zones have little impact relative to those designated by national authorities. Zones established later tend only to have effects where counties already had an export-advantageous position. We conclude that such policies can encourage differential growth in the presence of significant distortions in the rest of the economy, but become less effective as these distortions are removed. <i></i>