所得分配惡化對公共支出增加的影響：1980-2004

The Impact of the Worsening Income Distribution on the Government Expenditure: 1980-2004

吳親恩(Chin-En Wu)

《東吳政治學報》 25卷1期 (2007/03) Pp. 73-114

https://doi.org/10.6418/SJPS.200703.0073

摘要

近年來在台灣政府未嘗債務累積佔GDP的比重不斷增加，形成政府財政上沈重的負擔。民主化後浮濫的公共建設與過高的社會福利方案，是一般認為政治上造成近年政府財政負擔增加的主要原因。雖然各種政策買票意在吸引選票，但是本研究指出，很多這類公共支出也受到1990年代之後所得分配惡化的影響。當所得分配惡化時，增加所得移轉以及改善失業的要求也會跟著增加，政府在面對這種需求時，會相應提出各種方案來解決這些問題。這也就是說，所得分配惡化從需求面影響政府支出的增加，雖然中間交雜著民主政治中的政策買票，但兩者其實是互相作用，影響政府支出的增加。而且改善收入的方案並不只限於移轉性支出，各種就業方案以及公共建設支出也都直接、間接的與所得改善有關，這些支出使得政府的整體支出規模加大。在公共支出增加，但對高所得者增稅有困難的前提下，驅使政府必須以發行公債的方式籌措經費，來支應這些支出，增加了政府的財政負擔。

關鍵字

所得分配 ； 公共支出 ； 移轉性支出 ； 民主化 ； 政府負債

並列摘要

In recent years the outstanding debt of central government as a percentage of GDP exhibits a secular increase in Taiwan, increasing the government's financial burden. Extensive public works and social welfare programs following the democratic transition are considered the main political causes. While many such projects are directly intending to attract votes, the worsening distribution of income may also be a driving force. When the distribution of income worsens, the demand to increase social welfare and reduce unemployment rates follow. Governments facing this rising demand are induced to provide various projects to alleviate this problem. This suggests that worsening income distribution and pork-barrel projects jointly create a heavy financial burden for the government. Further, projects aiming to improve income distribution are not limited to income transfer payments; both employment and public works projects, to different extents, serve the same purpose. All such projects expand the level of government expenditure. However, given that tax increases are politically difficult, the financial gap forces the government to issue public debt to finance these projects.

並列關鍵字

income distribution ； public expenditure ； transfer payments ； democratization ； government debt

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