财政预算透明——公共管理研究中的理论和实践

Fiscal and Budget Transparency——Theory and Practice in Public Administration Studies

伴随着新公共管理运动的兴起,在全球范围内公众对政府财政管理方面的信息公开的需求也日益上升。财政预算管理在提高政府治理的效率和效能方面有着不可或缺的重要作用。本文从财政预算透明定义的涵盖范围、衡量指标的设计,以及财政透明的理论基础、决定因素和影响的实证研究等方面,系统回顾和评价了财政透明度研究的现状和发展。本文介绍了由非营利机构--沃尔克联盟(Volcker Alliance)牵头组织的对美国50个州政府财政预算管理的一个评估项目。在文章最后还展望了财政预算透明研究的前景和方向,认为新技术如何应用和推动财政透明度决定因素将成为未来研究的重要发展趋势,财政透明度对政府信任的影响、对治理腐败的影响、对提高政府运作效率的影响以及对公民满意度的研究等方面或可作为财政预算透明度影响研究的突破方向。

The rise of New Public Management(NPM) has required governments to provide a higher quality of financial disclosure. Financial and budgetary management plays an essential role in improving government efficiency and effectiveness. This paper endeavors to provides an overview and assessment of the various definitions and measurements of fiscal transparency. After reviewing the theoretical foundations of fiscal transparency, the in-depth literature review covers the empirical studies on the determinants and effects of fiscal transparency. It also introduces a most recent practice of fiscal transparency--the Truth and Integrity of State Budgeting Project sponsored by the Volcker Alliance. The project evaluated the budget process and practice of 50 state governments in the United States. The paper concludes with the discussion of future research on fiscal transparency,including the role of the advanced IT technology in promoting fiscal transparency, the demand for fiscal transparency from the citizen,the impact of fiscal transparency on the trust of government and corruption, and the relationship between fiscal transparency and the efficient and effective governance.