Informal Institution and Public Goods Provision in Rural China: A case study of T village

不论是公共物品供给制度还是外在的民主制度,国内外研究者始终关注的是正式制度对公共物品供给的效用及其影响,很少有学者意识到在社会环境中自发生长的非正式制度对农村公共物品的供给也可能产生有效影响。本项研究结合定性访谈和问卷调查的方法对T村的公共物品供给问题进行个案研究。研究发现,由于历史和宗族因素而在T村形成的非正式制度,即“头家轮流制”和特有的习俗惯例,促进了村民在村庄宗族性活动和村庄修建水泥村道中的捐资行为,最终对T村公共物品的自我供给起到了积极有效的影响作用。

Most of the existing literature only focuses on how the provision institution or the democratic institution affects public goods provision in rural China, while few researchers recognize that the informal institution in rural China may affect public goods provision as well. Based on a case study of both qualitative and quantitative methods in T village, this paper seeks to examine the relationship between in- formal institution and public goods provision in rural China. The author finds that the informal institutions in T village, such as various customs and traditions, have positive influence on public goods provision through the functioning of "social habitual memory" and "the alternate system". It is also found that the informal institutions have positive influence on public goods provision by improving villagers' donation in T village.

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