【作者】 陈丰；

【导师】 张广利；

【作者基本信息】 华东理工大学 ， 社会学， 2011， 博士

【摘要】 信访制度自确立以来,已经成为中国社会的一项重要制度。在近60年的历程中,这一制度逐渐成为沟通政府与民众的重要渠道,在了解社情民意、实现和维护人民民主政治权利、开展权利救济等方面发挥了重要功能,从而在一定程度上充当着“社会安全阀”,有利于维护社会的稳定。1996年1月《信访条例》开始实施,标志着我国信访工作逐渐步入法制化、规范化轨道。然而由于制度本身的缺陷,以及诸多的社会、政治原因,信访制度在其运行过程中出现了诸多问题,并引致相关的社会问题,使得这一制度在发挥作用的同时又承担了相当的制度成本。随着新制度经济学对制度起源、制度变迁等方面研究的不断深入,作为制度基本理论之一的制度成本正引起人们越来越多的关注。本文在梳理社会学关于制度研究的基础上,运用新制度经济学相关理论和博弈理论,阐释了制度成本理论,并运用这一理论框架对信访制度成本进行深入的分析。本文认为,社会制度成本是指在人类社会中,在以制度设计为起点,以制度变迁为终点的整个制度周期中所发生的一切耗费,是实现不同主体之间利益博弈而产生的成本,其形式是多种多样的,既包括经济成本,又包括政治成本、社会成本等方面。而在一个完整的制度周期中,每一个阶段都需要支付相应的成本,由此制度成本包括制度形成成本、制度执行成本、制度监督成本、制度变迁成本。本文在利用现有信访研究和信访资料的基础上,结合实证研究,提出了信访制度成本及其指标。信访制度成本主要包括政治成本、经济成本和社会成本,构成“三位一体”的制度成本结构。信访制度政治成本的主要指标包括信访活动中存在的各种问题对政府公信力、民主与法制发展水平、政治心理和政治行为等方面的影响。信访过程中既有信访相关部门之间的横向博弈和不同层级政府之间的纵向博弈,又有信访机构、政府行政机关、信访人的三方博弈,其重要政治后果之一是导致信访制度政治成本的增加。信访制度经济成本主要包括两方面：广义信访机构的经济投入和信访人的经济成本,前者包括人力成本、行政办公费用、非常规费用等；后者包括交通费用、食宿成本、误工成本、材料及邮寄费用、通讯费用等。尽管信访人的初始成本很小,但在其上访过程中经济成本是不断追加的,而对于一部分坚持维护自身合法权益的上访者来说,显然存在着“理性经济人”假定的非有效性。一般而言,信访制度本身存在不足、体制不顺畅、相关制度不够健全和完善是经济成本高昂的制度原因。信访制度社会成本的主要指标包括社会稳定程度、社会公众满意度、社会心理等三个方面。由正式制度、非正式制度、政府与非政府组织、公民所构成了信访制度的社会环境,对社会成本的影响具有双重性质,即可能提高或者降低社会成本,其中对执行成本和监督成本的影响则是其主要表现。在构建信访制度成本指标体系的基础上,本文进一步进行了定量研究,即通过模糊数学模型分析了信访制度的政治成本和社会成本,而对经济成本则不仅进行了量化研究,而且运用了西方经济学中的弹性等概念进行深入的分析。总之,信访制度在发挥功能的同时,却承担着较高的制度成本,这成为一个典型的中国式社会问题。在当前转型社会时期,各种社会矛盾日益复杂,各种利益冲突不断加剧,信访制度也面临着挑战。展望未来,信访制度要更好地发挥作用,有效地降低制度成本,就必须进行全方位的改革,不仅要积极创新路径,根据社会的发展变化作出符合客观实际的调整和改革,而且应更好地体现法治精神,进一步加强制度的规范化、法制化建设。更多还原

【Abstract】 After the System of Petition by Letters and Visits set up, it has been an important institution in China society. In past nearly 60 years, this system has gradually been an important path in linking government and normal people, finding out people’s wishes, safeguarding people’s democracy rights. It is necessary to maintain social stabilization, and so this system to a certain extent plays the role of social relief valve. The system of petition by letters and visits began to be put into force in 1996, and this is a sign that petition by letters and visits has gradually been into pathway of legality and standard. Due to its own drawback and some social and political facts, there are quite a few problems in this system operation, which also give rise to some social problems. So this system has to shoulder considerable institutional costs in its operation while it helps us.Institution beginning and institution transition have been studied more and more in New Institutional Economics. Many people are now paying close attention to institution costs, which is a widespread social phenomenon. We apply the related theory of New Institutional Economics and Game Theory to study and explain the theory of Institutional Costs on the base of sorting out institutional research in sociology. We apply the theory of Institutional Costs to study the cost of the System of Petition by Letters and Visits. Institutional cost in society refers to all expenses in the total institutional circle, which is from institutional plan to institutional transition. This cost caused by the different subjects’interests gaming, has several forms, including economical cost, political cost and also social cost. Appropriate costs are needed in each period of institutional circle, so institutional cost can be divided into institution forming cost, operating cost, supervising cost and transiting cost.In this study, we integrate making use of existing research and information of petition by letters and visits with empirical research, and put forward the cost and index of petition by letters and visits. The costs of petition by letters and visits, including political costs, economical costs and social costs, form trinity institutional cost structure. The main index of political cost of the System of Petition by Letters and Visits, include the influence on the governmental credibility, democracy and legality, political culture and psychology which are caused by a large number of problems in the practice of petition by letters and visits. In the course of petition by letters and visits, there are cross game among the different department of petition by letters and visits, vertical game among different levels of government, and tripartite game among the department of petition by letters and visits, the administrative department and petitioners. One of the important political consequences of this phenomenon is to add the political cost of System of Petition by Letters and Visits.The economical costs of System of Petition by Letters and Visits consist of two aspects: economical expenditure of broadly department of petition by letters and visits and petitioners’ money. The former includes human resource, administrative office expenses and informal expenses, and the later consists of traffic costs, board and loading costs, work delaying costs, material preparing and post, communication costs. Although petitioners spend little money at first, the initial cost is increasing quickly in the course of their petitioning. To some petitioners who persist in safeguard their rights and interests, the supposition of rationality is invalid. The institutional causes of high economical costs, generally speaking, consist of the shortage of System of Petition by Letters and Visits, the hindered structure and relative institutions’ unperfected.The main index of social costs of System of Petition by Letters and Visits refer to social stability, public satisfaction and social psychology. Social ecology environment, which is consisted by formal institution, informal institution, government and Non-government organization and citizens, influences the social costs with double nature, namely increasing or decreasing institution cost, and its important expression including implement cost and supervision cost.On the base of constructing indicators of the System of Petition by Letters and Visits, we make further efforts in quantitative study, namely analyzing the political costs and social costs of System of Petition by Letters and Visits through fuzzy mathematics model, and we not only analyze the economical costs quantitatively, and also take deep study by using some conceptions such as elastic in the western economics.In conclusion, the System of Petition by Letters and Visits has played an important role in our society, but shoulder the high institutional costs at the same time, and it has become a topical social problem in China. In the period of society transformation, in one hand many social contradictions become more and more complicated, in the other hand, lots of interests conflicts are sharpening continuously and so System of Petition by Letters and Visits is confronted with many challenges. Looking forward to the future, System of Petition by Letters and Visits should play a big role in our society, so it is necessary to cut down the institutional costs effectively. We should reform this system all-direction, that is to say, not only to create the new path positively and adjust the system according to the social objective reality, but also to strengthen standardization and legalization so as to embody the spirit of law better.更多还原