民生财政的量度:民生支出若干概念的比较分析

How to Measure Government Expenditure on People’s Livelihood in China?A Comparative Analysis of Some Related Concepts

新世纪以来,我国的政策话语出现了'关注民生'的明显转向,特别是自党的十八大以来,'增进人民福祉'更是明确成为党和政府全面深化改革的重要目标。在政策实践中,各级政府纷纷公布民生实事或民生工程,加大民生投入,打造民生财政;在学术界,民生研究也开始成为显学,有的探讨如何保障改善民生,有的建构民生指数,也有的在量度'民生财政'。然而,何谓民生投入,或者说何谓民生财政,无论是实务界还是学术界,都没有达成共识。针对这种情况,论文尝试就量度民生财政做些努力。首先分析了三种目前较为流行的,基于狭义、广义和更为宏观的民生概念的量度工具及其局限;其次,从社会政策在我国的发展现状与社会支出的国际经验出发,建议用'社会政策'概念来框定'民生'内涵,并指出推动我国社会支出研究的必要性与可行性;最后,尝试初步构建适合我国国情的社会支出指标体系的框架。论文认为,社会支出反映了一个国家或地区在社会政策领域的投入,能够体现出一国的公共支出结构和公共政策格局,是衡量一个国家或地区在改善社会福利水平方面所作努力的重要指标,因而能够在量度民生财政上体现出更好的政策建议效用与国际对话能力。这对当前正处于职能转变和向服务型政府转型的我国政府部门来说具有重要意义。

Since the beginning of the new century,China’s policy discourse has occurred an obvious turn to"people’s livelihood"(minsheng).To enhance people’s livelihood has become the top priority of the comprehensive and deepening reform launched by the new political leadership.While the governments at all levels have made the policy areas relating to minsheng the key areas of public expenditure,academics have also paid much attention to the study of minsheng,making it a thriving field of academic studies.Nevertheless,there is no consensus on the definition of minsheng expenditure and its measurement.This article tries to make some contributions to the measurement of minsheng expenditure.In doing so,it first examines the existing measurement tools and their limitations.Then,it suggests the replacement of minsheng by the concept of social policy.Based on this change of concept,it further documents the necessity and feasibility of the replacement of minsheng expenditure by the concept of social expenditure.Finally,the authors try to establish a framework of social expenditure index which is compatible with the situation of China.It is argued that social expenditure is much more workable in measuring government’s efforts on enhancing people’s livelihood.