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财政与庶政:县级政府治理能力研究

Local Public Finance and Governance Capacity at the County Level

【作者】 王敬尧

【导师】 项继权;

【作者基本信息】 华中师范大学 , 地方政府学, 2008, 博士

【副题名】对中部Y县的实证分析

【摘要】 郡县治,天下安。郡县是中国历史上最稳定和最重要的地方政府,还没有哪一级行政建制具有郡县这样的长期历史延续性和顽强的生命力。今天,县级政府在中国政治稳定和经济繁荣以及社会管理方面仍发挥着无可替代的作用。县级治理直接关系到党和国家的方针政策在广大农村的落实效果,事关社会的稳定与发展。县制的基础是县治,县治的基础是县财。县级财政是县级政府运行和发展的基础,也是地方财政运行的晴雨表,因为县级财政是具有财政运行能力的最低政府级次,处于财政收入的最初端和财政支出的最末端,此乃县治的财政逻辑。财政压力是制度变迁的动力,县级财政是影响县级治理的核心变量,研究县级治理必须关注县级财政。县级财政的重要职能之一就是为民众提供公共服务,民生财政关系到老百姓的基本生活和切身利益,事关社会的公平、正义、和谐,是构建和谐社会的核心和基础。要使民众学有所教、劳有所得、病有所医、老有所养、住有所居,就必须推进基本公共服务均等化建设,改革财政制度,增强县级政府提供公共服务能力。县级政府具有自主性,同时也嵌套于所处的社会环境之中。民间力量的参与和配合对于政府公共政策的制定与执行绩效具有直接影响。由于民众的需求随着社会的发展而变化,县级政府不可避免地面临治理危机的考验。因此,考察县级政府的应急反应机制,是评价一个地方政府治理绩效的重要方面。治理能力的表现是服务能力,而服务能力以财政能力为基础,财政能力由其财政结构决定。因此,从地方政府的财政结构入手去观察分析其治理能力不仅具有现实意义,同时也具有理论价值。基于上述认识,本文以中部地区的一个县级单位——中部Y县为个案,通过对其财政来源、支出结构、财政能力、服务能力及其管理和应急反应能力的深入考察,分析县级政府的治理能力。具体而言,通过考察其财政关系及其制度变迁来分析其县级治理背景;通过其财政结构中所体现的收入能力、支出能力和财政平衡能力来了解县级政府财政能力;通过其提供公共服务的财政投入来考察其服务能力;通过其财政支出结构及管理来考察其风险应急机制和危机管理能力,并通过这三方面来评价Y县的治理能力。文章试图在此基础上理解中部地区的县级政府治理特征。本文坚持实证政治研究方法,遵循“现象→事实→测量→操作概念→概念→理论”的研究理路,以避免“用理论套事实”的先入为主路径依赖。每一个重要概念都争取有相应的测量指标,逐层推进。作为一种方法论的应用,是一种追求本土化研究目标的尝试。第一,本文的研究建立在长期深入调研和大量实证材料分析的基础上。由于财政本身的敏感性和“神秘性”,带来获取资料以及观察行动的艰难性。在整个研究中,作者从2001年开始直到2007年底,多次进入现场,收集大量第一手材料,获得相关文本文件5717份;实施问卷调查2次,一次针对乡镇干部的关于县乡财政的问卷调查,收回有效问卷81份,另一次是Y县公共服务需求问卷调查,收回有效问卷2600份,其中针对农民的有效问卷2511份;在整个调研过程中有112人次接受访谈,采访录音90万字。这为本文研究奠定了坚实的基础,也与县乡村干部和农民结下了深厚情谊,为更好地理解县级政府运作提供了便利。研究县级财政的成果本不多见,对一个县级单位财政运行资料收集比较齐全、翔实的案例更是少见,这本身就是一个浩大的工程,从这个意义上讲,本文的研究资料非常难得,对于研究县级政府治理具有基础性作用。第二,本文以县级政府的财政能力及其服务能力为重点。主要以县级财政支出作为研究视角来观察Y县“养民”的情况,这是在以往研究的基础上的进一步推进。现有研究成果涉及财政问题的主要集中在农村税费改革前的村庄社区层面,近年来对乡镇财政困境的研究逐渐增多,但对县级政府财政关注较少。即便是对县级政府研究进行专题研究的政治学论文,也大多是集中于行政体制结构与运行的描述与分析,而财政是其运作的基础与核心,其成果不多。本文从县级财政的支出入手,对特定区域——中部地区县级单位的财政支出进行深入翔实的考察,为更好地理解地方财政与治理能力之间的关系进行了有益探索。在对丰富的资料进行分类处理基础上,本文构建了分析县级政府治理能力的分析框架,即从财政能力、服务能力和应急能力三个方面构成县级政府治理能力分析框架,这是在以往宏观层面研究成果基础上,研究地方政府治理能力的尝试。因为,不同层级的政府行动将体现出不同的行为特征,不可能一个框架可以套用所有的行为主体,县级政府也不例外。地方政府的治理能力透过公共服务的政策执行得以体现,因此,提供了研究公共服务的新的视角。第三,本文致力于地方治理的理论解释,在实证研究基础上提出了地方治理的互赖模型。随着社会转型,地方政府也不断转变其执政理念,关注民生成为目前和今后政策选择的重点,这表明,地方政府不能像计划经济时代一样管理。而应在具备相应自主性同时,关注民间社会的嵌套性,并与之合作。事实证明,地方政府与民间社会是一体两面,“合则两利,分则两害”。应在地方治理中体现出互赖性,培育和谐通感,产生合超效应,从而提升地方政府的治理能力和水平。

【Abstract】 The thirty-years of reform and revolution in china are featured with the system innovation. It has been evident that the system innovation was first introduced to the economic domain, with breakthroughs in local financial systems. Reforms and changes in the financial system will surely entail changes in the inter-government allocation of financial resources, as well as changes in financial structures of governments at all levels, which can further lead to changes in government’s financial ability. This is especially pertinent to local governments. The governing abilities of local governments are closely related to their financial abilities, as the governing ability is represented by the public serving ability, which is based on the financial ability and determined by the financial structure.This dissertation examines how revenue and expenditures structure of public finance at the county level impact the governing ability empirically, since governments at the county level are the most important and stable level of governments in China.A county level government in the Mid China, the Yi’ning District of Hubei province was selected to examine its financial ability. Reforms in its financial system and changes in its financial resources were also discussed.Possible contributions of this study are as follows:Firstly, the studying material is novel. Due to the sensitivity and confidentiality of financial issues and many other factors, it is extremely difficult to obtain relevant materials in this field. To overcome this obstacle, the author has spent more than seven years in fostering a mutual confidence with the local government officials during this study and several other long-term research programs. Good relationship has been established and many official documents confident to others have been given access to the author. Furthermore, two rounds of questionnaire survey and 112 interviews have been conducted to the peasants and local public servants. These produce an original, comprehensive and detail collection of financial documents for a county government.Secondly, it observes the topic of maintaining people’s lives from the perspective of county level financial expenditure, which is a new perspective. Extant financial studies mainly focus on the village level, and more recently, studies on township financial dilemma have been increasing. Generally, extant studies give deficient attention to county level finance. This study examines the financial expenditures of a mid China county in detail and provides a better understanding to the relationship between local finance and governing ability.Thirdly, this study has established a framework of governing ability analysis to county level governments. The framework consists of three elements: financial capability (extraction capability), service providing capability, and anti-risk capability. From these three aspects, the governing ability of a county level government can be better observed and assessed.Fourthly, an interdependence model of local governance has been advanced. With the social transformation, the local governments have been changing their political concept, and people’s livelihood has become a focal point of current and future policy selection. This means that, in addition to their autonomy, local government should also pay close attention to the embeddedness of the governments, and cooperate with the folk society. Interdependence of the folk society and the government can cultivate the sense of community, and lead to the synergistic effect, therefore improving the local government’s governing capability and performance.

  • 【分类号】D630
  • 【被引频次】4
  • 【下载频次】1356
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