国家能力建设的溢出效应：来自巴基斯坦土地记录数字化的证据
Spillovers in State Capacity Building: Evidence from the Digitization of Land Records in Pakistan
American Economic Review · 2026 · [{"name": "Shan Aman-Rana", "affiliation": ["University of Virginia"]}, {"name": "Clement Minaudier", "affiliation": ["St George's, University of London"]}]
中文摘要
数字化改革被誉为增强国家能力的有效途径。然而, 数字化也可能从根本上重塑官僚机构的组织方式。利用来自巴基斯坦旁遮普省农业税收的独特行政数据集以及对地方官僚的调查, 我们表明数字化改革可能对国家能力产生意外后果。我们利用旁遮普省土地记录数字化的交错(分批)推进, 表明数字化对税收征收产生了负面效应。税收的下降并非源于税基的减少; 相反, 数字化削弱了官僚征税的能力。(JEL D73, H11, H71, O12, O17)
Abstract
Digitization reforms have been hailed as an effective way of strengthening state capacity. However, digitization can also fundamentally reshape the organization of bureaucracies. Using a unique administrative dataset on agricultural taxation and surveys of local bureaucrats from Punjab, Pakistan, we show that digitization reforms can have unintended consequences for state capacity. We exploit the staggered rollout of the digitization of land records in Punjab to show that digitization had a negative effect on tax collection. The fall in taxes was not due to a decrease in the tax base. Instead, digitization affected the bureaucrats’ capacity to collect taxes. (JEL D73, H11, H71, O12, O17)