精英自主性、非正式制度与农村公共产品供给——基于“香烟钱”制度的个案研究

Elite Autonomy, Informal Institutions and the Provision of Public Goods in Rural China——A Case Study of "Cigarette Money" System

为何在同一村民小组内部,非正式制度在某一时间段内有助于促进公共产品供给而在另外的时间段则不然?现有文献中的“经济决定论”、“民主促进论”和“非正式制度改善论”均无法有效回答。本文在长期田野调查的基础上,以历史制度主义视角下的行动者分析框架为理论工具,对“香烟钱”制度进行个案研究。研究发现,村民小组组长竞选是制度变迁的关键节点,精英自主性因这一职位面临的约束条件和激励条件的改变而增强。具有强大自主性的村民组长出于个人和公共利益考虑,采用多种治理机制和策略推动“香烟钱”在公共产品供给中发挥作用。本文的发现进一步丰富了农村公共产品研究的结构论视角,揭示了制度变迁的个体动力,勾勒了精英行动与公共资金用途改变的中介机制——制度变迁。从政策启示上看,政府需保护和发挥非正式制度的积极作用。当然,非正式制度能否在除道路以外的农村公共产品供给中发挥作用仍需进一步探讨。

Why do certain informal institutions contribute to the provision of public goods during some periods while during others not in the same village group?Current literature focusing on the roles economic conditions,grassroots democracy,and informal institutions respectively play in the provision of public goods in rural China cannot provide sufficient answers.This paper,based on a long-time field research,employing an actor-based framework under the perspective of historical institutionalism,examines the informal institution of Cigarette Money in-depth.This paper finds that the election of group leader is a critical juncture of the change of the institution of Cigarette Money.The constraints and incentives facing the new leader have changed after the election and elite autonomy is enhanced because of decreasing constraints and increasing incentives.Thus,the group leader of strong autonomy is able to initiate a series of governance mechanisms and take various measures to promote institutional change for private and public interests,which means giving full play to the institution of Cigarette Money in the provision of public goods.The findings have further enriched the structuralism perspective by demonstrating the individual impetus of institutional change,which can act as an intermediate mechanism between elites and the allocation of public funds.This paper also implicate that local governments preserve informal institutions and give full play to them in the provision of rural public goods.However,further studies need to explore whether informal institutions can only work in cases other than the provision of roads.