Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / by James W. Adams -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- Abbreviations -- Overview / Shuilin Wang -- Part I: Role of the state and public finances -- Public finances, the role of the state, and economic transformation, 1978- 2020 / Athar Hussain and Nicholas Stern -- Intergovernmental fiscal reforms, expenditure assignment, and governance / David Dollar and Bert Hofman -- Fiscal policy and reforms: toward realizing a harmonious society / Teresa Ter-Minassian and Annalisa Fedelino -- Part II: Fiscal reform and revenue assignments -- Expenditure assignments in China: challenges and policy options / Jorge Martinez-Vazquez ... [et al.] -- Taxation reforms and the sequencing of intergovernmental reforms in China : preconditions for a Xiaokang society / Ehtisham Ahmad -- Part III: Intergovernmental relations and fiscal transfers -- Fine-tuning the intergovernmental transfer system to create a harmonious society and a level playing field for regional development / Anwar Shah and Chunli Shen -- The reform of intergovernmental fiscal relations in China: lessons learned / Jiwei Lou -- Creating a regulatory framework for managing subnational borrowing / Lili Liu -- Part IV: Education and innovation financing -- Financing lifelong learning / Carl Dahlman, Douglas Zhihua Zeng, and Shuilin Wang -- Strengthening China's technological capability / Shahid Yusuf and Kaoru Nabeshima -- Part V: The public health system: access, service delivery, and financing -- Financing public health / David B. Evans and Ke Xu -- Health reform in rural China: challenges and options / Adam Wagstaff and Magnus Lindelow -- Part VI: Social security -- Notional defined contribution accounts: a pension reform model worth considering / Jiange Li, Mark Dorfman, and Yan Wang -- Realizing the potential of China's social security pension system / Martin Feldstein and Jeffrey Liebman -- Part VII: Growth, inequality and fiscal reform -- Does the Di Bao program guarantee a minimum income in China's cities? / Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen, and Youjuan Wang -- Growth, inequality, and fiscal policy from a historical perspective: are there lessons for China? / François Bourguignon.