公众参与能否促进地方债务信息的主动公开——一项准实验的实证研究

Can Initiative Disclosure of Local Government Debt Be Promoted by Public Participation?——An Empirical Study Based on a Quasi-Experiment

政府信息公开是公众了解政府、监督政府的基础性制度和前提性条件,也是促进政府治理能力和管理水平提升,改进政府绩效和实现共治善治的重要手段。论文以依申请公开作为公众参与的载体,构造了一次以县级政府为样本的地方债务信息公开准实验,并基于双重差分方法和倾向得分匹配方法量化评估了公众参与对地方债务信息主动公开的影响。研究发现:公众参与对地方债务信息的主动公开具有显著的促进作用,同时这一结论也是稳健的,不会受到不同纳入样本、不同匹配方法等方面的影响,而其内在机制也是明晰的,即公众参与能够对地方政府的信息公开行为起到监督和提醒的作用。这一结论对于政府信息依申请公开制度的完善、强化地方债务信息的主动公开力度等,具有重要的政策启示。

Government information disclosure is the basic system and precondition for the public to understand and supervise the government. It is also an important means to improve governance, management, and performance. Based on the application-based disclosure of government debt information as the carrier of public participation, this studyconducted a quasi-experiment using a county-level government as the sample.The impact of public participation on the initial disclosure of government debt information was evaluated using the difference-in-differences and the propensity score-matching methods. Public participation had a significant role in promoting the initial disclosure of government debt information. This conclusion is robust and was not affected by using different inclusion samples or different matching methods. Its internal mechanism is clear: public participation can supervise the government s information disclosures. This conclusion may aid the improvement of the system of government information disclosure,especially the initial disclosure of government debt information.