Introducing CPAR’s Highly Cited Articles

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Book Review: Ekaterina V. Kudryashova, Legal Regulation of Strategic Planning in Public Finance

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Warren S. Eller, Brian J. Gerber & Scott E. Robinson, Public Administration Research Methods: Tools for Evaluation and Evidence-Based Practice

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Promoting Coordination through Reducing Language Barriers in the Fight against COVID-19 pandemic: Messages on a survey on foreigners living in China

Based on an online questionnaire survey that focusing on foreigners in China conducted between the end of March and early April of 2020, this work finds that the language is a major obstacle that preventing foreigners living in China to get same consciousness of COVID-19 pandemic as local Chinese. It also shows the difference in information source significantly affect foreigners’ information accessibility as well as attitudes towards the pandemic. We call for more efforts to eliminate the language barriers in the transmission of pandemic information, which can be critical for global coordination in the current fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring the Drivers and Catalysts of Intra-agency Collaboration in the Local Service Delivery

This study examines critical local service delivery issues to understand the drivers and catalysts of intra-agency collaborative domains. Based on the survey data of public employees in the Taipei Household Registration Office, this study provides empirical evidences to support the relationship between intra-agency collaboration and perceived organizational performance. The findings reveal the mediating role of central administrative organization and information sharing, but do not support the direct influence of stakeholder assistance. Implications of these findings are emphasized for future studies of local collaborative governance.

The Impacts of Fiscal Decentralization on the Quality of Government in China: A Test of Market-Preserving Federalism at the Provincial Level

The potential influence of fiscal decentralization on economic growth in China has been extensively studied. This paper examines whether fiscal decentralization has influenced marketization and regional disparity (intra-provincial expenditure inequality) and the tradeoff between them (quality of government, QoG). When local governments have sufficient fiscal autonomy, decentralizing fiscal power to sub-provincial governments is found to have a greater impact on increasing marketization, highlighting the important role of fiscal self-sufficiency in the effect of fiscal decentralization on market efficiency. Measuring the QoG from the marketization versus disparity perspective, we find a reversed U-shape relationship between revenue decentralization and QoG. Comparing the effect of fiscal decentralization on the QoG in different regions, intra-provincial revenue decentralization in the eastern area is above the optimal level, while the fiscal decentralization in the middle and western areas is near the optimal level. This paper combines the perspectives of fiscal decentralization and governance and conducts an empirical test of market-preserving federalism to explain differences among provinces.

How Governance Shapes Emergency Management: China’s Mixed Records in Responding to COVID-19

A nation’s governing system shapes its capacity for emergency preparedness and management. Designed to maintain the central government’s absolute authority, China’s governing system limits local governments’ initiative and capacity in responding to mass emergencies. By examining China’s fight against COVID-19, this essay dynamically demonstrates how the country’s governing regime constrains local officials’ initial response to the virus but facilitated large-scale mobilization once the crisis was recognized by the central leadership. Three essential factors for an adaptive emergency management system are identified: 1) raising the central government’s ability to recognize mass emergencies, 2) changing political incentives of local cadres, and 3) creating a flexible and efficient ad-hoc resource allocation mechanism. This study provides insights on how to enhance the resilience of a mass emergency management system within the constraints of existing governing institutions.

Combating COVID-19 Through Collaborative Governance: Lessons from East Asia

Collaborative governance plays a significant role in crisis management and greatly contributes to the fight against COVID-19. This article demonstrates how East Asia effectively combats COVID-19 through collaboration with enterprises, nonprofit organizations, and citizens. By comparing different countries’ responses, this study proposes three different types of collaborative governance models employed in combating the pandemic, namely the Chinese state-led cooperation model, South Korea’s state-society synergy model, and Japan’s social voluntary cooperation model. The findings demonstrate that there is no one-size-fits-all model to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The specific response initiative that the government adopts is shaped by its state intervention and coercion capacity, as well as the social voluntary cooperation norm. Each country should take anti-pandemic measures based on its specific conditions. Achieving a balance between preventing the pandemic and maintaining social economic development is a challenge for governments. The three collaboration models drawn from the East Asian experience provide valuable lessons for combating the global pandemic and future crises.

Citizen Assessments of Government Actions in the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

This study investigates citizen assessments of government actions in the COVID-19 outbreak in China.Empirical analyses based on a large-scale online survey indicate that the Chinese public expects the government to improve its support for the frontline medical staff, management of public stress and anxiety, and disclosure of government information. Specifically, indirect exposure to COVID-19 through second-hand information is negatively associated with citizen assessments of government actions; by contrast, the first-hand frontline experience with the epidemic is positively associated with citizen assessments of government actions. Findings suggest that citizens with first-hand experience might be more able to judge government actions under the actual constraints of resources and opportunities and are less likely to overemphasize the costs or risks associated with government actions than others without frontline experience. Our work suggests that governments should effectively communicate vivid information regarding government actions to the public during public health emergencies, as more informed citizens might be more supportive of governments with limited resources and, probably, more actively collaborate with governments.

The People’s Voice, The People’s Choice: An Overview of Participatory Budgeting in the United States

Participatory budgeting was launched in the U.S. in 2009 in Chicago, Illinois, by a member of the city’s Board of Aldermen (the city council) who used $1 million of his discretionary funds to bring his constituents directly into the local budget decision-making process. By 2018, there were 23 more U.S. jurisdictions with a PB process in place: 12 with PB in selected areas (districts); six with a citywide initiative; five with an initiative to allocate specific pots of money, e.g., CDBG funds (see Table 1); and six with an initiative to bring young voters or high school students into budget decisions. In this descriptive paper, we provide a synopsis of PB initiatives in the U.S. based on publically available information and personal interviews with individuals involved in the PB process. Our paper adds to the literature by providing a review of PB initiatives across the U.S. that will be particularly useful for readers who are looking for a quick purview of the topic or who have limited knowledge of PB.