本研究由中央－地方關係的分析途徑探討中國大陸鄉鎮債務的形成。透過一個概念性的解釋架構，本文指出，斷裂式的政府間財政體系、壓力型的基層政府治理機制和政策實施模式，構成鄉鎮債務形成的制度基礎。準此，面對財政收支失衡和政策實施的壓力，舉債成為基層鄉鎮政府一系列策略行動的必然結果。

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on township government debts in China’s reform era by exploring its institutional infrastructure through central-local dynamics. According to our analyses, a broken intergovernmental fiscal system, as well as pressure-based grassroot governance mechanisms and policy implementation models, are the institutional foundations for township debt formation. If these these existing institutional arrangements were left unchecked, township government debt will become a plague in China's social and economic development.