辖区规模、地方政府治理与经济发展——基于乡镇撤并的研究

Jurisdiction Scale,Local Governance,and Economic Development:A Study Based on Township Mergers in China

行政区划调整在国家治理体系和治理能力现代化建设中具有基础性作用,近年来我国实施了乡镇撤并、县区合并等调整行政区划、扩大地方政府辖区规模的改革。文章基于乡镇撤并改革,从政府组织运行成本的角度,研究了地方政府辖区规模的决定因素及其经济效应。文章通过构建地方政府最优辖区规模的理论框架,分析得出上下级政府间沟通成本、政府工作人员知识水平、公共政策推行效果的可预测性、公共品规模经济程度和居民偏好异质性是决定地方辖区规模的重要因素。文章基于1997—2014年我国乡镇撤并数据与县级经济社会数据,发现在沟通成本较低、政府工作人员知识水平较高、公共政策推行效果可预测性较强、公共品规模经济效应需要发挥以及居民偏好异质性较低的地区,乡镇撤并的力度较大。文章进一步评估了乡镇撤并的经济效应,结果显示,乡镇撤并有利于改善当地的就业状况,提高政府的行政效率,节省财政开支和改善地方公共服务,进而促进当地的经济发展。文章认为,行政区划调整改革需要根据当地的经济社会条件,因地制宜,综合考虑辖区过大带来的管理成本上升和辖区过小导致的规模经济损失因素,统筹协调发展。

The adjustment of administrative divisions plays a fundamental role in modernizing the state governance system and capacity.In recent years,China has implemented a series of reforms to adjust administrative divisions and expand the scale of local jurisdictions,and the township merger reform is the most extensive and intensive among them.Based on the township merger reform,this paper explores key factors of optimizing the scale of local jurisdictions and evaluates whether the reform has achieved the policy goals of improving governance efficiency and promoting economic and social development.From the perspectives of government organization and operating costs,this paper constructs a theoretical framework for the optimal scale of local jurisdictions.It concludes that the scale of local jurisdictions is affected by key factors consisting of the internal communication costs between upper and lower levels of government,the knowledge acquisition level of government staff,the predictability of public policy implementation effect,the degree of economies of scale in providing public goods,as well as the heterogeneity of resident preferences.This theoretical work will not only contribute to the literature to a certain extent,but also provide general enlightenment for optimizing the scale of local jurisdictions.Using data of township mergers through the period 1997-2014,this paper subsequently verifies the conclusions of the theoretical model through empirical analysis.The results confirm that areas with lower communication costs,a higher level of knowledge acquisition,higher predictability of public policy implementation effect,more urgent need for economies of scale of public goods,and lower heterogeneity of resident preferences,have gone through greater extent of township mergers.Furthermore,this paper explores the economic effect of township mergers.The results show that these mergers are conducive to improving local employment conditions and local administrative efficiency,saving fiscal expenditures,improving public services,and promoting local economic development.The enlightenment of this paper is to fully consider the high governance costs brought about by excessively large jurisdictions as well as the loss of economies of scale caused by excessively small jurisdictions,and to implement further reforms based on local economic and social conditions.