政府治理效率:当代中国公共管理研究中的大问题

Government Efficiency:The Big Problem in China’s Public Management

效率是指稀缺资源的优化配置。政府如何提高效率,即运用有限资源完成复杂、多样的治理目标始终是贯穿公共管理学学科发展的核心议题。当前,社会矛盾的性质转变要求更高质量的政府治理,发展观念的变化和人口结构老龄化则进一步凸显了资源的稀缺属性,这些变化都迫切需要政府在治理中更加重视效率维度。与政府作为超大型公共组织的性质相适应,政府治理效率包含了要素资源配置效率、公共品供给效率,以及组织运行效率三个层次的主要内容。知识无边界,学术有分工。公共管理研究效率不是对经济学等其他学科工作的替代,而是重在增加政府治理效率提升的制度供给。具体来看,纵向政府间关系的调整、地方财税体制的建立,以及重点任务与常规治理机制的平衡等理应成为公共管理学研究中的重点议题。

Efficiency refers to the optimization of allocating scarce resources.Government efficiency is the most critical issue since the establishment of Public Administration,and it becomes even more critical in contemporary China.In China,the urbanization process indicates that the government should take more responsibility,but the call for sustainable development and an ageing society means the government have minimal resources to accomplish the goals.Based on the role of government in the modern state,there are three different types of government efficiency,including the efficiency in resource allocation,the efficiency of public service delivery,and organizational efficiency.For students of Public Management,there are three major subjects in studying government efficiency:the central-local relationship,the local taxation system,and the relationship between Weberian-bureaucratic organization and the task-based governance mechanism.