地方环境政策超额执行逻辑及其意外后果--以2017年煤改气政策为例

Logic and Its Unexpected Consequences of Local Environmental Policy Excessive Implementation--Case Study from the "Coal to Gas" Policy in 2017

避责执行与不完全执行是学界对中国地方环境政策执行普遍的认识,但为何会出现环境政策的超额执行?为什么超额执行反而带来政策失败终结的意外后果?本文采取混合研究方法,先以过程追踪法对煤改气政策执行进行讨论,再以19个煤改气城市作为研究对象开展实证分析,从而找出地方环境政策超额执行的逻辑。首先,研究发现在政策目标与绩效考核影响之外,财政资源与政策效益是推动地方政府积极甚至超额执行煤改气政策的主要原因。其次,在地方煤改气政策超额执行中,由于中央在向地方下派政策目标的同时,未关注天然气资源配套的问题,从而造成这一政策失败终结。这表明中央政府在资源配套乃至政策整体设计环节的缺位,是地方环境政策执行结果偏差的制度性根源。本文填补了政策超额执行的理论空白,发展了基于财政资源、政策收益的解释框架,从而为困扰公共政策以及环境治理领域已久的政策执行偏差问题提供新的解释。

The objective of this paper is to explore the mechanism of excessive implementation of local environmental policies and provide a different explanatory framework for the policy implementation gap. A mixed research method, involving the process-tracking method and multiple regression analysis, was conducted in this article. It is found that apart from the influence of policy attributes and performance appraisal, financial resources and policy benefits are the main reasons to promote local governments to actively or even exceed the implementation of the "coal to gas" policy. In addition, as the central government did not pay attention to the matching of natural gas resources while dispatching policy objectives to local governments, the local excessive policy implementation led to the failure of the "coal to gas" policy. This indicates that the absence of the central government in supporting resources and even the overall policy design is the institutional root of the implementation gap of local environmental policies. The key limitation of the study is the limited explanatory scope.The explanatory scope of this case study can only cover the policy types with low conflict. We should expect that future research further explores the high conflict policy implementation mechanism and results. From the experience of excessive implementation of the coal to gas policy, it is essential to create "incentives" for local governments to implement policies. For the excessive implementation of environmental policies, it is crucial to shape policies consistent with local interests and encourage local governments, thus realizing the dual objectives of economic and environmental assessment. Meanwhile, we should carefully evaluate whether the policy objectives match the allocation of resources, thus ensuring a policy that benefits the public will not lead to adverse consequences. This paper fills in the theoretical gap of excessive policy implementation, and develops an explanatory framework based on financial resources and policy benefits. Hence this research provides a new explanation for the policy implementation gap that has plagued both the public policy field and environmental governance.