IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v85y2025ipcs1544612325012541.html

Fiscal buffering institution: How budget stabilization adjustment funds shape budget stability in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xi, Yu
  • Che, Lijuan

Abstract

A budget stabilization adjustment fund (BSAF) is a key fiscal institution aimed at promoting budget stability. This study investigates whether and under what political conditions BSAFs function as effective countercyclical tools. Empirical findings indicate that prior-year BSAF balances moderately reduce budget stability. Political cycles amplify this negative effect, especially during the two years before and the year after Party Congress sessions. Additionally, the age and tenure of officials further intensify the link between prior-year BSAF balances and budget revenue stability.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi, Yu & Che, Lijuan, 2025. "Fiscal buffering institution: How budget stabilization adjustment funds shape budget stability in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PC).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:85:y:2025:i:pc:s1544612325012541
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325012541
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.107996?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Zhan & Ma, Dan & Tang, Jiaqi, 2024. "Asymmetric fiscal policies and digital economy development: An empirical analysis based on the global digital value chain perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    2. Li, Mo & Yang, Jing, 2024. "Can digital economy mitigate vertical fiscal imbalances in Chinese local government? The role of fiscal transparency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    3. Gong, Min & He, Wei & Zhang, Nan, 2021. "Political promotion incentives and local employment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 492-502.
    4. Alt, James E. & Lowry, Robert C., 1994. "Divided Government, Fiscal Institutions, and Budget Deficits: Evidence from the States," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(4), pages 811-828, December.
    5. Margarita Katsimi & Vassilis Sarantides, 2012. "Do elections affect the composition of fiscal policy in developed, established democracies?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 325-362, April.
    6. Toke Aidt & Francisco Veiga & Linda Veiga, 2011. "Election results and opportunistic policies: A new test of the rational political business cycle model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 21-44, July.
    7. Drazen, Allan & Eslava, Marcela, 2010. "Electoral manipulation via voter-friendly spending: Theory and evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 39-52, May.
    8. Afonso, António & Furceri, Davide, 2010. "Government size, composition, volatility and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 517-532, December.
    9. Jia, Junxue & Liu, Yongzheng & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & Zhang, Kewei, 2021. "Vertical fiscal imbalance and local fiscal indiscipline: Empirical evidence from China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Ding, Qiaoying & He, Wensheng & Deng, Yanfang, 2025. "Can tax reduction incentive policy promote corporate digital and intelligent transformation?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    11. Hu, Zhifei & Liu, Xihe & Li, Xinyu & Wu, Jun, 2024. "How does vertical fiscal imbalance affect corporate green innovation? Empirical evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    12. Nathan Seegert, 2015. "The Performance of State Tax Portfolios During and After the Great Recession," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 68(4), pages 901-918, December.
    13. Ghany Ellantia Wiguna & Khoirunurrofik Khoirunurrofik, 2021. "Political budget cycle patterns and the role of coalition parties in shaping Indonesian local government spending," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 41-64, February.
    14. Wenchi Wei & Dwight V. Denison, 2019. "State Rainy Day Funds and Government General Fund Expenditures: Revisiting the Stabilization Effect," Public Finance Review, , vol. 47(3), pages 465-492, May.
    15. Li, Tianyu & Du, Tongwei, 2021. "Vertical fiscal imbalance, transfer payments, and fiscal sustainability of local governments in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 392-404.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Masahiro Tanaka, 2015. "Measuring Political Budget Cycles: A Bayesian Semiparametric Assessment," Working Papers 1415, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    2. Gupta, Sanjeev & Liu, Estelle X. & Mulas-Granados, Carlos, 2016. "Now or later? The political economy of public investment in democracies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 101-114.
    3. Balaguer-Coll, Maria Teresa & Brun-Martos, María Isabel & Forte, Anabel & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2015. "Local governments' re-election and its determinants: New evidence based on a Bayesian approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 94-108.
    4. Linda G. Veiga & Georgios Efthyvoulou & Atsuyoshi Morozumi, 2018. "Political Budget Cycles: Conditioning Factors and New Evidence," NIPE Working Papers 21/2018, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    5. Lucia Rossel Flores & Martijn Huysmans & Joras Ferwerda, 2024. "The political business cycle of tax reforms," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 200(1), pages 65-88, July.
    6. Eric Dubois, 2016. "Political Business Cycles 40 Years after Nordhaus," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01291401, HAL.
    7. Andrew Q. Philips, 2016. "Seeing the forest through the trees: a meta-analysis of political budget cycles," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 313-341, September.
    8. Castro, Vítor & Martins, Rodrigo, 2018. "Politically driven cycles in fiscal policy: In depth analysis of the functional components of government expenditures," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 44-64.
    9. Manuela Krause, 2019. "Communal fees and election cycles: Evidence from German municipalities," ifo Working Paper Series 293, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    10. Basistha, Ahana & Dhillon, Amrita & Chaudhuri, Arka Roy, 2024. "Elections and Rural Road Construction: Evidence from India," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 712, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    11. Falcó-Gimeno, Albert & Jurado, Ignacio, 2011. "Minority governments and budget deficits: The role of the opposition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 554-565, September.
    12. Jeroen Klomp & Jakob Haan, 2013. "Political budget cycles and election outcomes," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 245-267, October.
    13. García, Israel & Hayo, Bernd, 2021. "Political budget cycles revisited: Testing the signalling process," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    14. Margarita Katsimi & Vassilis Sarantides, 2015. "Public investment and reelection prospects in developed countries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(2), pages 471-500, October.
    15. Atsuyoshi Morozumi & Francisco José Veiga & Linda Gonçalves Veiga, 2014. "Electoral effects on the composition of public spending and revenue: evidence from a large panel of countries," NIPE Working Papers 23/2014, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    16. Burret, Heiko T. & Feld, Lars P., 2018. "(Un-)intended effects of fiscal rules," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 166-191.
    17. Maria Teresa Balaguer-Coll & María Isabel Brun-Martos & Anabel Forte & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2014. "Determinants of local governments'­ reelection: New evidence based on a Bayesian approach," Working Papers 2014/06, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    18. George Petrakos & Konstantinos Rontos & Luca Salvati & Chara Vavoura & Ioannis Vavouras, 2022. "Toward a political budget cycle? Unveiling long-term latent paths in Greece," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3379-3394, October.
    19. Hyewon Kang, 2025. "Can fiscal transparency mitigate political budget cycles?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 202(1), pages 141-166, January.
    20. Israel Garcia & Bernd Hayo, 2022. "The Influence of Politicians’ Sex on Political Budget Cycles: An Empirical Analysis of Spanish Municipalities," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202223, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:85:y:2025:i:pc:s1544612325012541. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.