Administrative Cost of Local Government in China – The Case of Municipal Governments
- Abstract
The administrative cost of local government is an important indicator of the regional
competitiveness and creativity of modern society, it not only reveals the efficiency
and governance of the local government, but also relates to the regional economic
development and happiness of the civilian. With the continuous development of the
information age, loads of rent-seeking and corruption surfaces. The image of the local
government suffered tremendous trial, which emotionally turns the neutral word
“administrative cost” into a negative one. The issue of administrative cost is a puzzle
in the public administration academia; governments around the world are all
exploring ways to reduce the administrative cost. The issue is not exclusive but
criticized by the society which makes it the urgent affair in China. Since the reform
and open policy, the government has changed its functions, from “control-type
government” to “service-oriented government”, government no longer has hand in all
the aspects of social affairs, under the concept of “small government and big society”,
the social and political ecology is changing, on one hand the government is on a diet
that limits itself the public power and on the other hand it enhances the social power
which in turn increase the standard for the governance by the public. As for
service-oriented government nowadays, it canonizes civilian-oriented as well as the
pursuit of maximum profit, the goal of the government is to serve the civilian,
lowering the administrative cost and increasing the efficiency of the confined
economic resources could definitely benefit the civilian more, administrative cost is
somehow like an obstacle that blocks the way of increasing the administrative
efficiency. As for the Chinese government, lowering the administrative cost could
increase the administrative efficiency and improving the image of the government
simultaneously which helps to regain the public confidence and rebuild the
governmental prestige.
The article holds the broad sense that considers the administrative cost is made up of
both explicit and implicit cost. It uses data to analyze the issue of explicit cost and
uses cases to illustrate the implicit one. Later in the article, it makes the comparison
based on the cases of similar cities and also introduces the successful experience of
home and aboard. At last, it puts forward corresponding countermeasures to deal with
the issue combining with China’s reality. The article uses literature analysis and
comparative analysis, integrating inductive method with conductive method as well as
quantities method combining with qualitative method.
The innovation of the article lies in the empirical study more than the theoretical one.
In addition, the article keeps abreast of the times that analyses the great impact after
18th CPC National Congress so as to offer the public administration academia a latest
study.
Key words: government, administrative cost, countermeasure