ABSTRACT
Government attention and policy implementation are important for achieving environmental goals. This study uses 257 cities in China from 2013-2019 as the sample and measures local government attention through text mining, thus exploring the carbon emission reduction effect of government attention. Threshold regression is further used to examine the role and nonlinear relationship that environmental policies assume in the effect of government attention on carbon emission reduction. The conclusions are as follows: first, government attention can significantly reduce carbon emissions: with a 1% increase in local government attention to environmental protection, China's urban CO2 can be reduced by 0.04%. Second, the impact of government attention on carbon emissions is more significant in cities in non-air pollution prevention areas, in non-SO2 and acid rain control areas, with longer tenure of officials, and with female officials serving during the sample period. Third, the effect of government attention on carbon emission reduction can be significantly increased under policy influence, especially when two policies are implemented in concert. Fourth, market incentive policies play a stronger role in the first place, while traditional energy-saving policies have strong sustainability. In general, the study concludes that municipalities should allocate more attention to the environment, and it gives some reasons supporting policy choices.
Subject(s)
Environmental Policy , Local Government , Female , Humans , Carbon/analysis , China , Cities , Carbon Dioxide/analysis , Economic DevelopmentABSTRACT
Digital finance is playing an increasingly prominent role in economic development. This paper examines the impact of digital finance on industrial structure upgrading based on panel data from 289 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2020. The paper adopts fixed effects, mediating effects, and spatial econometric models and the findings are as follows. First, digital finance development significantly boosts industrial structure upgrading in Chinese cities. The evidence remains valid after various robustness tests. Second, digital finance and industrial structure upgrading exhibit positive spatial spillover effects. Third, digital finance indirectly affects industrial structure upgrading through innovation, entrepreneurship and the structure of household consumption channels. Fourth, the influence of digital finance is more significant in cities with more developed economies, less financialization and lower income inequality. Finally, among the sub-indicators of digital finance, the breadth of coverage plays the most significant role, inspiring policymakers and financial institutions to speed up the digitization infrastructure in backward areas.
Subject(s)
Economic Development , Entrepreneurship , Cities , Income , Industry , ChinaABSTRACT
Resumo Os estudos sobre agenda governamental têm adotado diversos indicadores para mensurar a atenção e as prioridades dos governos, a fim de analisar os processos de formulação e mudança de políticas públicas. Com base nas prerrogativas da teoria do equilíbrio pontuado sobre os padrões de mudanças na dinâmica das políticas, a distribuição do orçamento público tem se destacado como um dos instrumentos que melhor expressam os níveis de atenção e as prioridades dos governos em diferentes setores. Nesse contexto, alinhado a uma agenda internacional, este estudo busca investigar o padrão da atenção governamental acerca da distribuição orçamentária no Brasil. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é mapear a dinâmica da atenção governamental sobre a disposição do orçamento aprovado da União ao longo das últimas duas décadas (2000-2021), identificando os níveis percentuais de atenção aos diferentes setores de políticas públicas ao longo do tempo e os fatores conjunturais e institucionais que balizam os níveis de atenção governamental na classificação orçamentária. Para isso, foi formulado um banco de dados do orçamento aprovado de 2000 a 2021, no qual as 814 combinações de funções e subfunções de gastos foram codificadas em 21 setores, conforme metodologia do comparative agenda project (CAP). Os resultados indicam que a atenção governamental sobre essa distribuição opera sob um padrão majoritariamente incremental no decorrer do tempo, mas permeado por pontuações no equilíbrio em políticas setoriais específicas, comprovando a teoria do equilíbrio pontuado (punctuated equilibrium theory [PET]) no cenário nacional. De igual modo, apontam para a necessidade de mais estudos setoriais que expliquem as causas e os efeitos das pontuações na atenção governamental, suas relações com mudanças na agenda legislativa e os impactos de momentos de crises institucionais na definição de prioridades na distribuição orçamentária, apontados como agendas futuras a partir deste trabalho.
Resumen Los estudios sobre la agenda gubernamental adoptaron varios indicadores para medir la atención y las prioridades de los gobiernos a los efectos de analizar los procesos de formulación y cambio de políticas públicas. Desde las prerrogativas de la teoría del equilibrio puntuado sobre los patrones de cambios en la dinámica de las políticas, la distribución del presupuesto público se ha destacado como uno de los instrumentos que mejor expresan los niveles de atención y las prioridades de los gobiernos de los diferentes sectores. En ese contexto, de acuerdo con una agenda internacional, este estudio busca investigar cuál es el patrón de atención gubernamental respecto a la distribución presupuestaria en Brasil. Así, el objetivo de este trabajo es mapear la dinámica de atención gubernamental sobre la distribución del presupuesto federal aprobado en las últimas dos décadas (2000-2021), identificando (i) cuáles son los niveles porcentuales de atención a los diferentes sectores de las políticas públicas a lo largo del tiempo y (ii) los factores coyunturales e institucionales que orientan los niveles de atención del gobierno en la clasificación presupuestaria federal. Para ello, se creó una base de datos del presupuesto aprobado de 2000 a 2021, en la que se codificaron las 814 combinaciones de funciones y subfunciones del gasto en 21 sectores, según la metodología del Proyecto de Agenda Comparada (CAP). Los resultados indican que la atención del gobierno sobre la distribución del presupuesto opera en un patrón mayoritariamente incremental en el tiempo, pero permeado por puntajes de equilibrio en políticas sectoriales específicas, demostrando así la teoría del equilibrio puntuado a nivel nacional. Asimismo, señalan la necesidad de mayores estudios sectoriales que expliquen las causas y efectos de los puntajes en la atención del gobierno, sus relaciones con los cambios en la agenda legislativa y los impactos de los momentos de crisis institucional en la definición de prioridades en la distribución presupuestaria, identificadas como futuras agendas a partir de este trabajo.
Abstract Studies on policy agenda have adopted several indicators to measure the attention and priorities of governments to analyze the processes of policy change and policy dynamics. Based on the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) applied on the patterns of policy change, the distribution of the public budget has stood out as one of the instruments that best express the levels of attention and priority for governments in different sectors. This study seeks to investigate the pattern of government attention on the federal budget distribution in Brazil. Thus, this work maps the dynamics of government attention on the distribution of the federal approved budget over the last two decades (2000-2021), identifying (i) what are the percentage levels of attention to the different sectors of public policies over time and (ii) the conjunctural and institutional factors that guide the levels of government attention in the budget distribution of the federal government in Brazil. A database of the federal approved budget from 2000 to 2021 was created, in which the 814 combinations of expenditure functions and subfunctions were coded into 21 sectors according to the methodology of the Comparative Agenda Project (CAP). The results indicate that government attention on the distribution of the Brazilian federal budget operates in a mostly incremental pattern over time, permeated by punctuations in specific sectoral policies, thus proving the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory at the national level. As for future research agenda, the study shows the need for further sectoral studies that explain the causes and effects of changes on government attention, their relationships with the legislative agenda, and the impacts of moments of institutional crisis in defining priorities in budget distribution.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: To evaluate the resulting level of fiscal medical and health expenditure in China, and to provide the scientific basis for further improving fiscal medical and health service capacity in China. Patients and Methods: The data envelopment method and Gini coefficient method were used to analyze the efficiency and regional fairness of fiscal medical and health expenditure results by using the relevant provincial and municipal data of China from 2007 to 2019. Results: 1.Overall, from 2007 to 2019, the total expenditure continued to increase, the expenditure efficiency increased first and then decreased, and the expenditure fairness continued to improve. 2. From the perspective of subregions, there are apparent differences between regions in terms of total expenditure, expenditure efficiency, and expenditure fairness, showing a better situation in the central, western, northeast and a lower situation in the east. Conclusion: The overall level of fiscal medical and health expenditure in China shows an upward trend, but there is still much room for improvement. At the same time, there are pronounced regional differences, and the problems of efficiency and fairness coexist among regions. Therefore, in the future, we should increase medical and health investment and enhance the government's close attention; Improve the expenditure performance appraisal system; Formulate policies according to local conditions and avoid "one size fits all.".
ABSTRACT
The effective control over the outbreak of COVID-19 in China showcases a prompt government response, in which, however, the allocation of attention, as an essential parameter, remains obscure. This study is designed to clarify the evolution of the Chinese government's attention in tackling the pandemic. To this end, 674 policy documents issued by the State Council of China are collected to establish a text corpus, which is then used to extract policy topics by applying the latent dirichlet allocation (LDA) model, a topic modelling approach. It is found that the response policies take different tracks in a four-stage controlling process, and five policy topics are identified as major government attention areas in all stages. Moreover, a topic evolution path is highlighted to show internal relationships between different policy topics. These findings shed light on the Chinese government's dynamic response to the pandemic and indicate the strength of applying adaptive governance strategies in coping with public health emergencies.
