Can Provincial-Directly Managed County Reforms Promote Common Prosperity?——An Empirical Analysis Based on the Difference-in-Differences Model
The reform of provincial-managed counties is regarded as a crucial measure for economic development that narrows the urban-rural divide.However the existing research has not conclusively shown whether it reduces the"three major"disparities and advances the equalization of public services two key policy goals for achieving common prosperity.This paper uses panel data from the reform of Zhejiang provinces provincial-managed counties from 1997 to 2017.By ap-plying the difference-in-differences method the paper examines the overall impact of these reforms on achieving the pri-mary policy objectives of common prosperity The findings suggest that both the pilot and full implementation phases of the reforms had a positive effect on common prosperity showing an increasing trend over time.Further analysis reveals region-al differences in these positive effects The"three major"provincial-managed county pilot programs displayed characteris-tics of"the weak becoming stronger,the strong getting stronger."The"full implementation"phase demonstrated features of"suppressing the strong to support the weak,and promoting collaborative development."These findings have significant implications for optimizing the provincial county management system and exploring innovative policy paths to achieving common prosperity.
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