Social capital,guanxi and political influence in Chinese government relations

Social capital has emerged as a promising theoretical approach to understanding political influence in the public relations literature. However, the rationale of using social capital to influence corporate government relations in authoritarian societies is indistinct. To remedy this, we integrate Bourdieu’s (1986) and Lin’s (2001) social capital theories to explore how applying a variant form of social capital (e.g., guanxi) might shape corporate government relations in authoritarian China. A multi-method, qualitative approach was employed involving 44 interviews, participant observation and document review. The findings highlighted an underexamined “vertical” dimension of social capital (i.e., links with authority in a hierarchy), which enables corporations to exercise agency over the pre-existing and often vague regulatory environment. This study adds a new perspective to social capital with hierarchical guanxi that enriches our understanding of guanxi-based political influence in Chinese corporate government relations.     

Social service purchasing in China: Rationale,features, and risks

As part of a broader program of market reform, China's local governments are progressing an agenda of purchasing child welfare and other social services from the nongovernment sector, primarily to expand capacity and address vast unmet need. This paper draws on current research evidence to explore the approaches to purchasing emerging in China, examining the rationale for purchasing and models of supply, competition, and regulation. While some approaches are modeled on direct service contracting, direct purchasing of social service “posts” is also used, aimed at achieving goals of professionalization alongside service expansion. Overall, the review shows purchasing is helping to rapidly expand service scale and capacity; however, regulatory strategies for managing and mitigating risks to quality and access appear lacking. This highlights the need for further scholarship aimed at developing the robust risk management strategies which are required to support high quality, sustainable provision of purchased services.     

政府补偿下基于私人公平偏好的PPP项目投资决策分析

针对PPP （Private-Public Partnership）项目收益的不确定性，引入政府补偿契约问题。考虑私人投资者对政府补偿存在公平偏好倾向，借鉴BO模型的思想，将私人投资要求的特许收益作为其公平参考点，并通过对FS模型加以改进，构建私人公平偏好效用函数，从而给出私人在政府补偿下的投资决策模型。通过模型求最优解和概率分析，探讨私人公平偏好对其最优投资决策的影响，并借助数值分析给予检验。结果表明:当政府补偿使私人感知有利不公平时，私人将选择期望效用最大的最优投资，并随其感知程度的增加而增加；而当政府补偿使私人感知不利不公平时，私人最优投资及可能性将在有限公平偏好内随其感知程度的增加而减小。     

环境规制、政府行为与产业结构升级

传统的政府权衡思路发生转变，环境保护的重要性并不必然劣于对经济增长的追求，聚焦环境规制与产业结构升级的关系，有助于监管当局把握环境政策的经济端反馈效果。采用2004—2015年中国省际面板数据，考虑经济区域异质性和政府行为，细致分析环境规制对产业结构升级的影响，并进一步探讨具体的作用机制。研究发现:环境规制对产业结构升级的影响具有区域特征，东部地区形成了正向促进作用，中部地区为反向抑制作用，西部地区没有影响；地方政府官员晋升压力越大、财政收支压力越小、相对财力越大，环境规制倒逼产业结构升级的效力越大；传导机制方面，佐证了研发创新和对外开放对环境规制优化产业结构的正向传导效应，而FDI流入和投资需求反而具有逆向功效。因此，必须注重政府行为的协调效应，有效把握区域特征，提倡创新和深化改革开放，构建合理的环境规制政策，以实现产业结构优化升级。     

The impact of the European Youth Guarantee on active labour market policies: A convergence analysis

The European Union’s (EU) Youth Guarantee aims to improve the labour market situation of young people. Rather than prescribing a uniform policy model, it acknowledges that supportive measures need to align with national, regional and local circumstances. It thus seeks to promote mutual policy learning through the open method of coordination. As an innovative measure, the EU has deployed funding programmes to support the domestic measures related to the Youth Guarantee. We therefore examined in this study whether this mix of recommendations and financial incentives has entailed a convergence of member state policies. Our analysis of policy outputs for the period 2007?2014 yields a mixed empirical picture. There is catching‐up convergence regarding policies’ sectoral coverage but increasing divergence concerning the number of adopted policy instruments. The first two years of financial incentives did not produce any effect on enhancing policy experimentation among less active member states. We offer an optimistic and a pessimistic interpretation of these findings.     

政务大厅服务效能影响因素实证分析

政务大厅在积极开展创新实践的同时，也存在区域发展不平衡、部门协调难、窗口忙闲不均等诸多问题。量化政务大厅的服务效能，有效识别影响服务效能的关键因素，对于更快更好发挥大厅在"放管服"改革中的作用具有重要的现实意义。文献回顾与理论推演相结合提炼出大厅服务效能评价指标以及效能影响因素指标，基于普查数据量化指标，采用主成分分析法评价服务效能，构建回归模型，同时考虑大厅发展的区域性差异，分别从总体和分区域进行实证分析。研究结果表明，服务模式、生产要素、服务内容均会对大厅服务效能产生影响，且各区域大厅的具体影响因素和因素的影响程度均存在较大差异。基于此，应因地制宜开展大厅服务模式创新；推动大厅建设标准制定；落实审批事项全面进驻大厅，丰富大厅服务种类，优化服务结构。     

Shared‐use mining infrastructure: Why it matters and how to achieve it

This article considers the cases for and against ‘open access’ regulation of rail and port logistics infrastructure used by ‘bulk’ mining operations, arguing that host governments should proactively impose and then enforce such regulation in almost all cases. The logistics infrastructure needed for this type of mining activity is of critical importance. The costs and potential inefficiencies involved in duplicating such infrastructure confer a significant competitive advantage on its owner in the absence of effective access regulation. In particular, where a first mover develops an ‘integrated’ project incorporating a mine and associated infrastructure, a failure to impose access regulation discourages third‐party investment in mineral exploration and development in the region serviced by the infrastructure, due to the risk of hold‐up by the first mover. An unregulated first mover can also use its infrastructure advantage to capture the state's share of resource rents from the mineral endowment of the region. Open access regulation further benefits host countries by enabling broad‐based economic development through the shared‐use of mining infrastructure with other sectors (e.g., agribusiness). The article highlights contrasting experience with access regulation in Australia: the Pilbara iron ore region has seen protracted disputes involving mining firms and policy‐makers and very few examples of third‐party access, while in the coal region of central Queensland an extensive multi‐user, multi‐purpose railway network operates independently of mining firms. The authors urge governments in sub‐Saharan Africa (in particular) not to underestimate the internal capacity and other challenges associated with developing and enforcing open access regulation of mining infrastructure in a manner that protects their national interests.     

大数据驱动下的政府治理机制研究——基于2020年后精准扶贫领域的返贫阻断分析

大数据时代已经到来，大数据驱动下的政府治理发生何种改变，目前相关研究较少。当前政府治理的考验集中在2020年实现全面脱贫后精准扶贫领域的返贫阻断。文章以该领域为切入点，探索大数据驱动下政府治理的内在机制。研究发现：大数据背景下，政府治理能力催生出新的核心能力，即数据治理能力。数据治理能力驱动下，政府治理主体多元化有利于实现政府治理资源的宽范围、精准化动员；政府治理方式实现经验式决策向数据化决策转变，有利于实现政府资源的高效率和公平配置；政府治理客体的精准识别，有利于政府资源的精准化和最优化运用。但是客观上必须具备数据治理能力，主观上必须按照大数据驱动的要求重构政府治理体系（包括治理主体、治理方式和治理客体），才能真正实现以数据治理驱动政府治理，进而提高政府治理能力的目的。而数据治理能力客观上也加速了政府治理体系的重构，进而加快了政府治理能力的提升，并最终提高政府治理绩效。在对标大数据应用不同阶段分析常规式返贫阻断和大数据返贫阻断的不足和差距的基础上，笔者提出重构政府治理体系和提升数据治理能力等针对性建议。     

大数据推动政府治理创新的目标与路径

大数据的广泛应用对社会产生了深远影响，也对政府治理变革起着重要推动作用，大数据将推动政府治理理念、治理体系、治理方式的创新。政府治理的目标就是应用大数据实现法治政府、创新政府、廉洁政府和服务型政府。在运用大数据推动政府治理创新的过程中，应通过数据共享优化政府治理结构，通过政务形态信息化调整政府治理关系，通过政务平台技术化重塑政府流程，借用大数据来提升政府创新能力，通过数据应用法制化提升政府法治水平。所以，政府必须要主动适应信息公开和数据共享的大趋势，以此推动政府治理的变革与创新，进一步提高政府治理能力。     

Exploring the roles of government involvement and institutional environments in the internationalization of Chinese Internet companies

The interactions between government, institutions, and Internet companies have gained attention in the research on the globalization of China’s Internet. However, few studies have been conducted at the company level, and the knowledge about the roles of government and institutions remains limited. Drawing on institutional theory, this empirical study explored the roles and mechanisms of government involvement and the institutional environment in the internationalization of Chinese Internet companies. The results indicated that government involvement could improve these companies’ degree of international breadth through both state ownership and governmental affiliation. However, the results showed that state ownership had a restraining function on their degree of international depth. In the context of institutional transition in China, these effects could vary according to whether Internet companies operate in good or poor institutional environments. By revealing these relationships, this study contributes to both the theoretical and the empirical understanding of governmental influence and institutional roots in the globalization of China’s Internet.