JPA Journal of Public Administration，Vol.15 No.4，2022

●SYSPOSIUM：HousingEqualityandHousingPolicy

Introduction：Towards a More Inclusive Housing Policy System

Junfu Li &Yapeng Zhu

Housing Stratification among the Floating Population and Multilevel Housing Security in China

Chunxuan Wang &Junfu Li

AbstractThe construction of the housing security system for the floating population requires the principles of progressiveness，differentiation，and diversification.Policies must be implemented based on both the city and the housing class.The multi-level housing situation of the floating population is an important basis for formulating the housing security policy for the floating population.However，the current discussions on the housing stratification among the floating population and housing security are insufficient.Using 2017 dynamic monitoring data of the national migrant population from the National Health and Family Planning Commission，this study found that the migrant population in China has formed a “4-classes 8-levels”housing class structure.The upper housing class of the floating population have obtained housing property rights.The upper-middle housing class is the renter class who lives in the Juweihui Community.The lower-middle housing class is the renter class who lives in the Cunweihui Community.The lower level is the housing class that lives in dormitories or other housing types.Within the housing class，there are various types of housing stratification based on housing tenure and jurisdiction type.To improve the housing level of the floating population，a multi-level housing security system must be established.The government should regulate and stabilize the structure and price of the housing market，and provide suitable housing according to characteristics of the floating population.Not only to improve the multi-level variety of housing in the commercial and rental housing markets，but also to promote the diversity of affordable housing and the diversity of housing security.

KeyWordsFloating Population;Housing Stratification;Housing Policy;Housing Security;Multi-level Housing Security

Housing for Young People in Urban China:Increased Intergenerational Gap and Its Determining Factors

Xiulian Ma &Junshi Han

AbstractThis article explores the deteriorating housing conditions of young people in urban China and its institutional causes under the global trend of housing financialization and inter-generational inequality.An analysis of CHFS 2011-2019 data found that compared with non-young people，older youth are in a disadvantageous position in terms of per capita housing area with the intergenerational gap increased from 3m2to 9m2under certain controls.Meanwhile，the disadvantageous position of younger youth has just appeared.60% of this intergenerational gap comes from the market，where the growth of housing priced outpaces the growth of income.Families strive to play a compensatory role，with the proportion of households providing a down payment increased from 9% to 53% in 20 years.By now，most households have participated in direct or indirect youth housing compensation，but a ceiling effect has also been reached.As for redistribution，the continuous expansion of affordable housing，as well as self-built and small property houses have played an important role but only cover 6.5% of the intergenerational gap.There are two policy implications for this study.First，policy makers must be aware of the housing difficulties of older youth groups.Second，protective function in affordable housing and self-built small property housing must be recognized，no matter whether they are formal or informal．

KeyWordsYouth Housing;Intergenerational Inequality;Housing Redistribution;Welfare Familization

The Influence of Housing on a Family’s Willingness to Have More than One Child

Jing Huang &Chunli Li

AbstractBased on data from the China Family Panel Studies，this paper examines the wealth effect and crowding-out effect of housing on fertility as it relates to having more than one child from the dimensions of housing assets and housing burden.The study found the following.(1) A family’s housing assets and investment property have a significant positive wealth effect on the probability of having more than one child.As the total net price of a family’s housing assets increases by 1%，the probability of having more children increases significantly by 6.5%.Families with two or more houses were 24% more likely to have more children than single-house families.(2) The burden of housing prices has a significant and negative crowding-out effect on the probability of having more than one child in families without a house.As the ratio of housing price to income increases by 1%，the probability of having more than one child decreases by 16.8%.(3) The implementation of the “Comprehensive Two-Child”policy has not changed the relationship between housing and multiple children.(4) For those families in which the wives have gone to college and those in areas with a low multi-child fertility rate，housing assets are not the key factor affecting the number of children.The conclusions of the study provide a valuable reference for the formulation of more inclusive fertility policies and more targeted housing security policies．

KeyWordsHousing Assets;Housing Burden;Wealth Effect;Crowding-out Effect;Fertility of More than One Children

Social Reform，Gender Role Changes，and Homeownership for Urban Young Women

Yanrunyu Liang，Kaize Wu &Shengli Guo

AbstractThe proportion of young women entering the housing market has increased in recent years.This breaks with the traditional housing acquisition structure dominated by men.The gender role perspective and data from CFPS 2014，2016，and 2018 were adopted by this study to examine the impact of changing gender roles on women’s homeownership in the context of social reform and low birth rates.China’s industrialization and gender equality policies have increased women’s independence，the spread of higher education has enhanced economic power，and，with fewer children，the family structure has changed family roles and the pattern of family property distribution;all of which combine to influence young women’s homeownership.Data analysis shows that individual and family endowments have a positive effect on youth homeownership.In terms of homeownership，young women who have urban registration，are part of the skilled elite，and earn high incomes，have a significant advantage in becoming a homeowner.In contrast，“only sons”and “only daughters”have an advantage，but “non-only children”are at a disadvantage.There are gender differences in the effects of paternal education and household income per capita.Individual and paternal education and household income had significant，positive effects on the acquisition of housing assets by young women.This study explains the phenomenon of young women entering the housing market from the perspective of social change and changing roles，describes how that has led to changes in the housing market，and recommends that policymakers focus on the individualized housing needs of women and establish an equal system for the distribution of housing rights and inheritance．

KeyWordsSocial Reform;Gender Role;Young Women;Homeownership

●ARTICLES

The Responsiveness Differences Between the “Tiao and Kuai”of Local Governments and Their Formation Mechanism:A Case Study of the Openness of Government Affairs

Shu Wei，Shaowei Wu &Ze Du

AbstractThe differences between Tiao (specialized departments at different governmental levels) and Kuai (the government at each level) in their responsiveness is an indispensable piece for understanding the overall picture of the responsiveness of Chinese governments.By conducting a case study of governmental openness in A city，we found that the responsiveness of governmental organizations to external pressure was affected by the characteristics of the organization and the external pressure.These two factors did not work independently，but jointly affected governments’ response strategies,specifically，because Tiao and Kuai have different statutory duties and organizational functions，Kuai faced greater external pressure than Tiao，therefore the responsiveness of Kuai was generally better than Tiao.However，the vertical responsiveness and horizontal responsiveness of Kuai often deviated from each other or were irrelevant.Compared with Kuai，the pressure faced by Tiao mainly came from the superior government rather than the public.Tiao could sort its order of response tasks according to its function and mission.Therefore the horizontal response performance of Tiao was often consistent with its vertical response performance.This paper systematically describes and explains the differences in responsiveness of local governments，making the picture of responsiveness of Chinese governments more complete.By developing a holistic framework for analyzing the responsiveness of governments through institutionalism and bounded rationality，this paper also extends the theorization and systematization of the field of responsiveness research.Finally，this paper’s analysis of the deviation between vertical response and horizontal response provides a foundation for improving the responsiveness and governance of Chinese governments．

KeyWordsGovernment Response;Difference Between Tiao and Kuai;External Pressure;Organizational Characteristics;Government Affairs Openness

Official Characteristics,Tenure,and Budget Policymaking：Empirical Analyses of the Budget Stabilization Adjustment Funds of Chinese Provincial Governments

Yu Xi &Wenchi Wei

AbstractThe effect of officials’ characteristics and tenure on their financial management behavior is an important research question.This paper takes the Chinese provincial government as the research object and focuses on the influence of the replacement，tenure，and age of the provincial chief officials on the size of the government budget stabilization fund.In 2007，China established the budget stabilization fund system.This study collected the personal resumes of 108 governors and 90 provincial party secretaries in 30 provinces across the country from 2008 to 2019，the scale of the budget stabilization fund，and other relevant data.This paper examines the effects of provincial leaders’ characteristics and tenure on the size of budget stabilization funds.Due to the differences in the promotion incentives，the replacement and tenure of provincial party committee secretaries and governors had different effects on the budget stabilization fund.The replacement and tenure of the provincial party secretaries had a positive impact on the size of the budget stability adjustment fund，and the tenure of the provincial governor had a negative impact on the size of the budget stability adjustment fund.This paper expands the analytical perspective of budget stabilization funds，not only revealing the impact mechanism of officials’ characteristics and tenure on budget policy formulation，but also analyzing the internal logic of government officials’ policy preferences and behavior choices in different periods.The research results show that official characteristics and tenure are highly relevant for government budget policymaking.It helps explain the changes in the direction of budget policy formulation and provides path inspiration to further improve the budget stability adjustment fund system and the cadre personnel appointment system.

KeyWordsOfficial Characteristics;Tenure;Budget Stability Adjustment Fund;Budgetary Policy

Identify the Poor by Grouping:An Empirical Study of Local Anti-Poverty Performance from Incentive Response and Mechanism Implementation Perspective

Haoran Bai

AbstractIn a crucial field such as rural poverty alleviation，how do incentives implemented by local government affect production？This is a problem that is rarely discussed.This paper uses the “incentive response and mechanism implementation”perspective and the anti-poverty “Identify the Poor by Grouping”mechanism applied in A county to explore this problem.The study shows that the poor in A county were divided into two groups，“the ordinary household”and “the focus household”.Government then provided different resources to them.This mechanism reflects the two parallel values of the Strategy of Targeted Poverty Alleviation:“the helping hand to achieve development”and “the network to assist the poor”.Using cross-sectional data of those peasants in A county who were raised out of poverty in 2016，this study tested the influential effects of anti-poverty mechanisms.It was found that the internal relationship between the two parallel values is unbalanced.A county’s government，influenced by the “reduce poverty population size maximization”pursued short-term poverty reduction strategies to meet its requirements.However，other local governments supported development-oriented programs，especially in the agriculture field.This brought about a homogeneous competition effect.The market price of the development-oriented programming increased dramatically，which caused anti-poverty performance to fail to reach its expected goal for “the helping hand to achieve development”policy.Meanwhile，in order to improve the living quality of “the focus households”，local government transferred rural subsistence allowances that “the ordinary group”couldn’t access.This led to more prominent effects for “the network to assist the poor”policy compared to “the helping hand to achieve development”.Furthermore，local governments will likely face the dual pressures of the “effectively strengthen positive effect of development-oriented program”policy and “duly increase the total of assistance resources to the targeted poor”policy in the near future.Finally，this paper provides policy implications for the practice of rural revitalization:(1) integrating value principles that “rural development”and “subsistence allowances”into governance framework enhances the policy-design balance;(2) optimizing incentive signal can help meet the demands of good governance;and，(3) by improving governmental interactions and information sharing，it’s possible to promote the “collaborating-empowering”relationship between higher-level government and lower-level government.

KeyWordsTargeted Poverty Alleviation;Identify the Poor by Grouping;Anti-Poverty Mechanism;Governance Performance

Does the Establishment of National Health City Improve Public Health？Empirical Analysis Based on the PSM-DID Method

Genli Tang，Litai Chen，Yilan Xu &Yanling Lu

AbstractWith the increasing importance of high-quality development and the frequent occurrences of major public health emergencies，local governments are paying more and more attention to public health issues.Under the leadership of the central government，many regions across the country have launched the national campaign of the Establishment of National Health City (EONHC).Local governments have responded positively，but has this incentive policy achieved the expected effect？Based on the panel data of 174 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2016，this paper uses the PSM-DID method，combining the Propensity Score Matching method and the Difference-in-Differences method，to examine the effect of the EONHC.The results show that:(1) EONHC has improved the level of urban public health;(2) the impact of EONHC on the level of public health has a marginal effect，and the promotion effect is not long-lasting;(3) EONHC mainly improve the level of public health through the two major ways of suppressing industrialization and air pollution;and，(4) the health effect of EONHC has regional heterogeneity，and it has a significant improvement effect in the eastern region，but not in the central and western regions.From the perspective of the local government’s initiative to carry out the EONHC campaign，the article empirically evaluated the direct and dynamic impact of the EONHC on the public health level，identified the ways in which the EONHC affected the urban public health level，and revealed the regional differences in the effects and their causes．

KeyWordsPublic Health;National Health City;Evaluation and Recognition;Heterogeneity;PSM-DID Method

Exploring the Human Resource Practice in Institutional Reforming:A Case Study in County L

Bangcheng Liu &Sirui Sun

AbstractIn the process of institutional reform，human resources practices should provide the talent and create the required environment to maximize its effect.This study observed the human resources practices under the administrative law enforcement reform process in County L.When encountering new problems，challenges，and demands from the institutional reform，the traditional human resources practices became dominated by administrative instructions that relied on planning by superiors to push the work forward.Current practices have not solved the problem of information asymmetry，lack of agile responses to environmental changes，and the employee’s needs.They are also not conducive to creating a safe and friendly working atmosphere，resulting in the employee’s negative attitude and passive behavior.Put another way，current human resource practices are not well suited to building teams of talented people in the institutional reforming process，what’s needed is a new model of human resources practice (or human resource practices for institutional reform).It must be more supportive of change as well as agile，flexible，inclusive，and systematic.The aims of the reform are to encourage proactivity，enhance positive attitudes and behaviors，strengthen human capital，and achieve the integration effect of reforming organizations.This will help build a service-oriented government that satisfies the people by increasing the national governance capacity through a modernized system．

KeyWordsInstitutional Reforming;Human Resource Practices for Institutional Reform;Organization Development．

●THEORETICALREVIEWS

What Have We Learned about the Impacts of Administrative Division Adjustment from Two Decades of Empirical Research？

Jianzi He

AbstractAdministrative division adjustment (ADA)，including both amalgamation and fragmentation of local governments at different levels，has occurred frequently around the world in recent decades.Accordingly，an international community of researchers has emerged to empirically examine the impacts of ADA in different political and social contexts.To outline the general theoretical landscape of their research and evaluate their debates，this article reviews the relevant English journal publications over the period of 2000-2020，identifies the main research questions and hypotheses，and triangulates their empirical findings.On the one hand，global researchers have largely converged on several issues，including the negative impacts of large jurisdictions on political trust，the marginalization of small localities after amalgamation，and the possibility of free riding behaviors by local governments facing mergers in their fiscal policies.On the other hand，researchers are divided on whether amalgamation can improve the efficiency of local fiscal policies and public services.The article further connects the global ADA scholarship to the Chinese literature，advocates for studying the heterogenous effects of ADA in China，and highlights the importance of balancing regional interests in ADA policy-making processes.

KeyWordsAdministrative Division Adjustment;Empirical Research;Review