Analysis on Government Ethical Responsibility at the Sight of the Equalization of Public Services in China
Why should equalization of public services be the government ethical responsibility? One of the reasons is market failure which makes the supplies of public services impossible. Another reason is that the being-value of the government is to provide public services for all the members in the country. Is ethics needed by market and which ethics is needed? On one hand, market demands the rational and mutually beneficial moral as the support. On the other hand, under the control of the invisible hand, because of the insufficient supply of moral behavior, market is in loss and the rational economic man immerses into the dilemma of morality. In this way, we can say that the moral required by the economy cannot form spontaneously but is man-made. The equalization of public services is the economic responsibility, and the political responsibility as well of the government. Because public services obvious characteristic features are noncompetitive and nonexcludability, which makes tragedy of the commons and market economy follows the rules of capital and efficiency, which causes the Matthew Effect of area income and property allocation, market ethics becomes in malfunction. So, government as the most important organization is demanded to take the economic responsibility of public services. The government masters the public power and manages the public resources, it should represent the soul of the public benefit of the society community. It is based on the knowledge of the origin of the country or government. The basic value of the government lies in that it can provide public services such as safeguarding property safety. This is the proper responsibility of the government but not the additional gift of the citizen. With regard to a society, equal moral pursuit depends on the institution arrangement of the government. Justice itself is the basic moral public product provided by the government for the citizens. Public services equalization becomes the political moral responsibility.One is as the owner of public power who should be rational person of public moral and consider creating the utmost, best, indiscriminate public services product which is beneficial to the citizens as his pursuit; on the other hand, because he has the power to dominate public resource, he is prone to benefit himself and becomes economic rational person. Thus, the government has dual personality. When the economic rationality surpasses moral rationality, the government moral responsibility is in loss. Confronting the situation of the malfunction of government, it is necessary to search a more rational and practical scheme to manage morality: would be better to suppose the personal moral as one of the societys institution construction and arrangement but not personal emotion and conscience.
DONG Xiao-long
Xian University of Posts and Telecommunications, Xian, P.R.China, 710121
国际会议
2011 International Conference on Public Administration(2011公共管理国际会议)
成都
英文
44-50
2011-10-18（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）