制度变迁视角下的中国户籍制度改革:政策效应与目标路径

Policy Effects,Direction and Steps of China's Household Registration Reform:from Institutional Change Perspective

中国户籍制度正在经历从封闭的强制性二元结构到开放的一元融合格局的变迁过程。1958年户籍制度的建立是由政府命令和法律引入而实行的一种自上而下的强制性变迁。这次变迁使得户籍制度本质上成为一种身份甄别机制,是政府用来实行差别性的社会公共产品分配的手段,其政策效应主要表现在阻碍城乡自由流动以及影响社会阶层塑造两个方面。随着中国工业化发展阶段的递进,中国户籍制度变迁由局部开始,自下而上的推进,呈现出诱致性特点。未来户籍制度改革应该逐渐取消户籍与社会公共产品分配之间的联系,回归人口动态统计与民事权利证明的基本功能。然而,这个过程不可能一蹴而就,因此在步骤选择上应有相应的远期、中期和近期目标。

China＇s household registration system is undergoing a shift from a compulsory dual structure to the integration of urban and rural areas.The establishment of the household system in 1958 was a top-down compulsory change introduced by government regulations and laws.This change makes China＇s household registration a discriminative mechanism,which in nature is a system used by the government to discriminate identities and to allocate social public products accordingly.The policy effects include limiting rural population migrating into cities and influencing social stratification.With the progress of China＇s industrialization,changes in China＇s household registration system have started in some regions and are being pushed forward in a bottom-up manner,presenting characteristics of the induced change.In the future,the reform should be oriented to disconnecting household registration from the allocation of social public products,so that the household registration system functions merely as a means for vital statistics and civil rights certification.However,the reform of the household registration system should be a long-term process,with established long-term,middle-term and short-term goals in terms of the steps.