Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on Garbage Classifications

Abstract

China has been promoting garbage classification in its rural areas, yet it lacks financial appropriation and fiscal decentralization to support waste processing projects. Though the existing literature has suggested fiscal decentralization strategies between different local government levels, few of the studies ascertain garbage classification efficiency from a quantitative perspective. To bridge the gap, this study examines the optimal fiscal decentralization strategies for garbage classification. It uses an optimization model while considering decision makers’ requirements regarding the fund allocation amounts at different government levels and the classification ratios in villages as constraints and decisions, respectively. A three-stage heuristic algorithm is applied to determine optimal landfill locations and efficient classification ratios for the garbage processing system in rural China, with an analytical discussion on the propositions and properties of the model. Our analytical results suggest that 1) the theoretically optimal solution is conditionally achievable, 2) the applied algorithm can achieve the optimal solution faster when the relationship between governance costs and classification ratios reaches some mathematical conditions, and 3) there is always a potential for increasing the retained funds between different government levels or for reducing the total appropriation from the county government. The numerical experiment on a primary dataset from 12 towns and 143 villages in the Pingyuan county of Guangdong province, China, does not only affirm the qualitative results, but it also provides insights into the difficulties encountered during the implementation of the garbage classification policy in China’s rural areas.

The deviation of farmers’ willingness and behavior of domestic waste separation: a study on neighborhood effects and policy interventions

“…Internal factors mainly include environmental concern (Stern et al, 1995), pollution perception (Jia et al, 2021), perceived environmental regulation (Xu et al, 2023) and so on. External factors mainly include economic subsidy (Zen and Siwar, 2015;Xu et al, 2018), environmental monitoring (Li X. et al, 2019), fiscal decentralization (Ma et al, 2021), digital governance (Chen et al, 2023a) and so on. All of these will have an impact on farmers' waste separation behavior.…”

How does digital governance affect the level of domestic waste separation for rural residents? Empirical evidence from rural areas in Jiangsu Province, China

“…Based on the published literature, the factors can be divided into internal and external factors. The internal factors are mainly based on psychological cognitive perspectives such as environmental concern ( 8 ), waste governance cognition ( 9 ), environmental governance perceptions ( 10 ), and altruistic preferences ( 11 ). The external factors are mainly environmental, such as economic incentives ( 12 , 13 ), transportation conditions ( 14 ), fiscal decentralization ( 8 ), environmental advocacy, and monitoring ( 15 ), and political participation ( 16 ).…”

“…The internal factors are mainly based on psychological cognitive perspectives such as environmental concern ( 8 ), waste governance cognition ( 9 ), environmental governance perceptions ( 10 ), and altruistic preferences ( 11 ). The external factors are mainly environmental, such as economic incentives ( 12 , 13 ), transportation conditions ( 14 ), fiscal decentralization ( 8 ), environmental advocacy, and monitoring ( 15 ), and political participation ( 16 ). In addition, some scholars have also found that the consistency between rural residents' willingness to separate domestic waste and their separation behavior is low based on the theory of planned behavior ( 17 ).…”

Spatial and temporal evolution and driving factors of county solid waste harmless disposal capacity in China

“…From a research perspective, there are more examinations from a cost-benefit perspective (Yaman, 2012;Kinnaman, 2014;Di Foggia and Beccarello, 2020), and few scholars have conducted research from a spatial-geographical perspective. From the perspective of factors influencing individuals, scholars have mainly examined the impact of internal and external factors on individual waste treatment behavior (willingness to treat waste and level of waste treatment) such as environmental concern (Stern et al, 1995), waste governance cognition (Zeng et al, 2016), environmental governance perceptions (Wang and Hao, 2020), economic incentives (Xu et al, 2018), transportation conditions (Liu and Huang, 2014), fiscal decentralization (Ma et al, 2021), environmental advocacy and monitoring (Li X. R. et al, 2019). In addition, some scholars introduce initiatives and experiences of waste treatment in other countries (Lv and Du, 2016;Yang et al, 2019), with a view to providing methodological references for urban waste treatment in China.…”