数字化驱动外部化:餐饮服务安全监管模式的变革逻辑

Digitization Drives Externalization: The Logic of Reform of Food Service Safety Regulation Modes

政府职能外部化和治理手段数字化两种变革潮流交织形成的政府线下监管、政府线上平台监管、线下餐饮服务平台监管和网络餐饮服务平台监管四种模式,构成了我国餐饮服务安全监管模式变革的整体图景,深刻影响餐饮安全监管的方式与效能,但其变革逻辑仍待解释。对监管法规和实践的研究发现,监管者激励、监管信息获取和惩罚实施三大交易成本的差异,塑造了各监管模式承担的监管职能。以政府线下监管为参照,单独的外部化(线下餐饮服务平台监管)和单独的数字化(政府线上平台监管)分别因过高的监管者激励成本和监管信息获取成本,难以承担实质性监管职能;而数字化和外部化交织的网络餐饮服务平台提供的技术便利和市场激励,降低了平台内商家经营资质和经营行为的三大成本,因而可以承担部分实质监管职能。结果表明,与驱动政府职能内部化的传统技术变迁不同,餐饮服务平台的数字化为政府监管职能的外部化创造了条件,形成了“数字化驱动外部化”的技术变迁新效应。

The four regulation modes formed by the intertwining of externalization of government functions and digitalization of governance tools,constitute the overall picture of food service safety regulatory change in China,which profoundly affects the style and effectiveness of food safety regulation,but the logic of the change remains to be explained. Analysis of regulatory laws and practices reveals that three major transaction costs,namely regulators' incentive costs,information acquisition costs and penalty implementation costs,constrain the regulatory functions that each regulatory mode can undertake. First,externalization alone(offline food service platforms) or digitization alone(government online platforms)are difficult to undertake substantive regulatory responsibilities due to excessive regulatory incentive costs or information access costs,respectively. Second,the technological convenience and market incentives provided by digital and externalized change-intertwined online food service platforms reduce the three major transaction costs of the regulation of business qualification and business behavior of merchants in the platform,and thus can assume part of the substantive regulatory function transferred by the government. The results show that,in contrast to the traditional technological changes that drive the internalization of government functions,the digitization of food service platforms creates conditions for the externalization of government regulatory functions,forming a new effect of technological change of“digitization-driven externalization”.