This paper explores the governance, service delivery and financing of the Beijing metropolitan area government. The basic question asks is the extent to which Beijing City captures some of the advantages of being a metropolitan area-wide government, and the extent to which it avoids some of the disadvantages. In particular, it is interesting to see whether metropolitan governance can lead to a higher rate of revenue mobilization at the local government level. Is there a next step that cities like Beijing might take to improve their fiscal position, and what can other countries learn from the Chinese experience with metropolitan government finance?
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