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Preview of the 41st Xi Xian Forum: Liang Pinghan on Financial Pressure and Traffic Video Surveillance Equipment Procurement
publish date:2023-09-05 publisher:李玥彤

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Topic: Financial Pressure and Procurement of Traffic Video Surveillance Equipment

Based on more than 4.4 million government procurement announcements on the China Government Procurement Network (CGPN), this study collects and organises the procurement announcement data of traffic video surveillance equipment from 2014 to 2019 using semi-supervised deep learning algorithms to investigate the impact of local financial pressure on the installation of traffic surveillance. Taking the 2016 comprehensive "replacing the business tax with a value-added tax" policy as an entry point, the study explains the organisational logic of the local government's traffic monitoring and control installation behaviour by using double-difference and triple-difference models. It is found that, firstly, the results of double differencing are consistent with the findings of previous literature that when facing financial pressure, local governments will significantly reduce the investment in traffic monitoring equipment in the sense of national average. Secondly, in the results of triple differencing, it is found that there is a significant over-reliance on the road system effect on the use of traffic surveillance by local governments. Specifically in places with abundant traffic arterial resources, local governments significantly increase the installation of traffic surveillance when they face great financial pressure. The effect is more pronounced in places with poorer market institutional environments, lower fiscal transparency and strong incentives for promotion of officials. Further analyses show that investment in traffic monitoring significantly increases local confiscation revenues and leads to an increase in public complaints related to traffic fines and a decrease in the number of new firms registered in the market. This paper examines the behaviour of local governments under fiscal pressure from the new perspective of traffic monitoring installation, and analyses its potential political and economic impacts, which can help to understand and manage the phenomenon of "profit-seeking law enforcement" to further optimize the business environment.

Speaker Profile: Liang Pinghan

Professor Liang is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Politics and Public Affairs Management of Sun Yat-sen University, and a Yat-sen Scholar at Sun Yat-sen University. He has a PhD in Economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and is a Swire Visiting Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford University. His research focuses on local government behaviour, behavioural and experimental economics game theory. His papers have been published in Economic Journal, Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Comparative Economics, Economic Research Journal, ManagementWorld,China Economic Quarterly, The Journal of World Economics, China Industrial Economics, Statistical Research and other leading journals in China and abroad. His papers have been reprinted in full in Xinhua Digestand China Social Science Excellence, and he has been awarded the Young Teacher Award of the Fok Ying Tung Foundation for Higher Education, and the Ministry of Education's Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scientific Research in Higher Education (Humanities and Social Sciences). He has presided over key projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China, general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and youth projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Time: 14:00-16:00, Thursday, 7 September 2023

Moderator: Lu Yuanping (Executive Director of IIDPF)

Venue: Conference Room 119, Wenqin Building