Original
How Centralization Benefits Public Provision and Local Political Trust: The Case of Taiwan
Abstract
ABSTRACT Conventional wisdom holds that centralization undermines public provision and political trust. In contrast, this study argues that centralization can serve as a critical mechanism for overcoming authoritarian legacies and improving local governance in emerging democracies. Taiwan provides a compelling case: during its authoritarian era, decentralization fostered inefficiency, clientelism, and corruption. By shrinking local elite capture, centralization makes local government more responsive to citizens' demands for public provision, which in turn enhances political trust. We assess this argument by analyzing Taiwan's 2010 centralization reform, employing a difference‐in‐differences design with six waves of the Asian Barometer Survey (2001–2022). Our results show that citizens in areas that underwent centralization enjoy better access to healthcare and greater perceived safety. Meanwhile, the centralization also led to an increase in local political trust. These findings highlight the often‐overlooked potential of centralization to improve perceptions of public provision and strengthen political trust at the local level.
中文
中央集权化如何促进公共供给与地方政治信任：以台湾为例
摘要
传统观点认为，中央集权化会削弱公共供给与政治信任。与之相反，本研究认为，中央集权化可以成为一种关键机制，用以克服威权遗产并改善新兴民主国家的地方治理。台湾提供了一个极具说服力的案例：在其威权时代，地方分权助长了低效、庇护主义与腐败。通过压缩地方精英俘获，中央集权化使地方政府更能回应公民对公共供给的需求，进而提升政治信任。我们通过分析台湾2010年的中央集权化改革来检验这一论点，采用双重差分设计，并使用六轮亚洲晴雨表调查数据（2001—2022年）。结果表明，经历中央集权化地区的公民享有更好的医疗服务可及性，并具有更高的安全感。与此同时，中央集权化也带来了地方政治信任的提升。这些发现凸显了中央集权化在改善公共供给感知和增强地方层面政治信任方面常被忽视的潜力。
关键词
中央集权化、公共供给、地方政治信任、台湾、威权遗产、地方治理、双重差分、亚洲晴雨表