Information monopoly of bureaucrats helps them maximize discretionary budget. Public disclosure of budget can alleviate information asymmetry between government and the public and empower public supervision on governm...Information monopoly of bureaucrats helps them maximize discretionary budget. Public disclosure of budget can alleviate information asymmetry between government and the public and empower public supervision on government budget. With information intermediary function and reputational governance function, the media exert a budget intervention effect in the public disclosure of government budget, which further increases the effect of government budget disclosure. This paper investigates how media reports influence "three public expenses"(TPE) budget planning of central government departments by examining media reports on the disclosure of budget and final accounts and using TPE budget as a proxy variable for discretionary budget of bureaucrats. We have reached the following findings:(1) The higher the TPE budget implementation rate, the greater budget growth will be. But this correlation can be restrained by media attention;(2) Different stance of the media may exert different governance effects on TPE budget. Good news about TPE may motivate bureaucrats to restrain the positive impact of TPE budget implementation on budget growth. However, bad news about TPE will exert its budget intervention effect only when administrative governance mechanism intervenes. This study has broadened research on the media's governance effect from the perspective of government budget transparency and verified that under China's unique institutional background, the media may still play a positive role in public sector governance.展开更多
基金sponsored by National Natural Sciences Foundation Programs (Grant No.71172222) and (Grant No.71572194)the Overseas and Hong Kong and Macao Scholars Collaborative Research Program (Grant No.71428008) of the National Natural Sciences Foundation
文摘Information monopoly of bureaucrats helps them maximize discretionary budget. Public disclosure of budget can alleviate information asymmetry between government and the public and empower public supervision on government budget. With information intermediary function and reputational governance function, the media exert a budget intervention effect in the public disclosure of government budget, which further increases the effect of government budget disclosure. This paper investigates how media reports influence "three public expenses"(TPE) budget planning of central government departments by examining media reports on the disclosure of budget and final accounts and using TPE budget as a proxy variable for discretionary budget of bureaucrats. We have reached the following findings:(1) The higher the TPE budget implementation rate, the greater budget growth will be. But this correlation can be restrained by media attention;(2) Different stance of the media may exert different governance effects on TPE budget. Good news about TPE may motivate bureaucrats to restrain the positive impact of TPE budget implementation on budget growth. However, bad news about TPE will exert its budget intervention effect only when administrative governance mechanism intervenes. This study has broadened research on the media's governance effect from the perspective of government budget transparency and verified that under China's unique institutional background, the media may still play a positive role in public sector governance.
