Local Government Performance Evaluation System Oriented By National Happiness Index In China

Based on the concept of modern democracy, Government is devoted to pursuit and realizes National Happiness. The ultimate value orientation, even the reason for existence of Government is public satisfaction and National Happiness. It can be concluded that National Happiness and Government Performance inherently tied, and National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation System relevantly inherent. Constructing the Government Performance Evaluation System oriented by National Happiness Index is the important subject at the forefront of Public Administration and Government Management innovation and the new issue to the academy, Government and society in the new historical era in China.National Happiness Index is a measurement of people’s own feelings and experiences for the survival and development, which is the assessment or measurement index about National Happiness. According to Ronald Inglehart, National Happiness Index is composed of Subjective Well-being and Public Satisfaction. Government Performance Evaluation refers to the measurement or assessment of the government’s achievements and benefits in the period of time, reflecting the Outcomes-based and Public Satisfaction Orientation. Government performance evaluation aims at improving government performance, enhancing the government’s credibility and executive power. It is coincident in the Public Satisfaction in National Happiness Index and in Government Performance Evaluation. Importing the National Happiness Index into Government Performance Evaluation can reflect the human centered government value. TREATING DEVELOPMENT AS HAPPINESS proposes a unique perspective of National Happiness Index to research Government Performance Evaluation.Evaluation brings about Government behavior and public policy, and leads to the socio-economic trajectory and patterns. Since the implementation of reform and opening up, socialist market economy has got rapid development, China has entered a period of social and economic transformation, with economic and social conflicts intertwined with. Study on National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation is designed to reconstruct the systems and mechanisms that evaluate Government Performance from the source, so that to promote scientific development, and improve people’s livelihood and well-being and achieve the great rejuvenation of Chinese Dreams. Meanwhile, the measurement of National Happiness Index involves complex technical and value issues, Government Performance Evaluation and Government Performance Management in our country is in the pilot phase (traditional top-down evaluation within the system is essentially not Government Performance Evaluation). Study on National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation is a new field, and faces a series of environmental constraints. It highlights the significance of the study conversely.Government Performance Evaluation System oriented by National Happiness Index, involves multi-disciplinary theory, including Marxism Philosophy, Political Economics, Scientific Socialism, Political Science, Economics, Management, Psychology, and Technical Sciences. Especially compare and locate the Happiness and National Well-being Index Theory, Government Performance Evaluation Theory, National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation Relevant Theory, and put forward the Marxism Happiness Thoughts, trying to answer theoretical and realistic issues about why, what, who, how to evaluate Local Government Performance in China.This dissertation attempts to establish the academic logic by constructing Personal Well-being Index and National Happiness Index though the analysis of Subjective Well-being, Public Satisfaction and Weight Allocation in National Happiness Index. Indicator System is the core issue of National Happiness and Government Performance Evaluation. Indicator System is more critical than the Value Orientation to import National Happiness Index into Government Performance Evaluation System scientifically, effectively and rationally in the perspective of maneuverability. Based on Government Performance Evaluation is essentially Public Satisfaction for Government Performance, and Public Satisfaction is the foundation of National Happiness, Satisfaction surveys and measurement are already mature theory and method system, and guaranteed by environmental conditions in the West, therefore, importing National Happiness Index into Government Performance Evaluation System with technical feasibility and international experience.This dissertation also attempts to establish the realistic logic through the demonstration of significance, necessity and feasibility to import National Happiness Index into Government Performance Evaluation System. Theoretically, Happiness Index is a measurement of Personal Well-being, and the public is the subject of National Happiness Index. The subject of Government Performance Evaluation is in the core position with diversity. The ultimate goal of Government Performance Evaluation is National Happiness, and it serves the subject of National Happiness Index directly or indirectly. In third-party evaluation, the subject of Government Performance Evaluation and National Happiness Index is fully associative, and it is an ideal realm.In the final analysis, people’s Government should serve its people, and people’s Happiness is decided by themselves.There are theoretical and realistic problems in importing National Happiness Index into Government Performance Evaluation. The theoretical issues contains subjective diversity and complementarities in internal and external evaluation system of Government Performance, science and applicability of technical system of Government Performance Evaluation, availability of performance information and limits of resources on research and so on. The realistic problems contains the conflicts between Serve the Public and Serve the Supervisor, Process Control and Outcomes-based Orientation, Performance Evaluation and Examination Before, Positional Functions and Indicators System and so on. The dissertation tries to analysis the reason in conception, systemically and technological factors.From an empirical perspective, research on the coincidence between National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation aims to obtain a quantitative evaluation of empirical results, and provides the reference for the public to monitor Government Performance. This dissertation make a good use of the sample survey database of Government Performance Evaluation Center in South China University of Technology (valid sample of Guangdong’s27,640people, and the remaining6provinces total13,684people), obtained7provincial areas of National Happiness Index (average of61.94) in2012, and Guangdong achieved quantitative relationship between the Overall Government Performance Evaluation and National Happiness Index in2012. Either National Happiness Index and Overall Performance Index as a composite indicator, or the Domain Layer Index as a structural factor, the absolute value of the correlation coefficient were0.5or more (mostly more than0.6), and were significantly below10%by the test.This dissertation describes the experiences and practices at home and abroad in the few chapters later, and proposes countermeasures to answer the questions. In practices, the Government Performance Evaluation System oriented by National Happiness Index can be considered as Gross National Happiness or Happiness Evaluation. Internationally, the approaches in the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Nordic are worth learning. Government Work Report In2010presented that the only purpose of what we have done is to make people live happier and happier with more dignity. Happiness becomes the policy objectives and evaluation criteria in many parts of this country. According to incomplete statistics, at least18provinces clearly stated that HAPPINESS concept, and more than100cities propose the slogans of constructing Happy Cities. Guangdong announced Happy Guangdong evaluation results for two consecutive years. Hubei and Anhui have always established their own Indicator System of National Happiness Index. Jiangyin in Jiangsu is the first city that proposed the slogan Happy Jiangyin in China. Jiangyin imported National Happiness Index into Government Performance Evaluation System and several years ago and has got a lot empirical experiences.At last, this dissertation presents the countermeasures to construct Evaluation System of Chinese Local Government Performance Oriented by National Happiness Index. The whole ideas to improve Government Performance and National Happiness are that constructing unified evaluation system of Government Performance, promoting Administrative Reform, promoting transformations of government functions by evaluating Government Performance, constructing Service-Oriented Government, constructing Environmental Performance Evaluation System relatively independent, constructing Ecological Civilization, reconstructing competing platforms among local governments and let them compete in performance, improving Local Government Performance to provide conditions for improving National Happiness. The countermeasures includes coordinating relationship between National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation, establishing Human Centered Orientation for National Happiness Index, implementing diversification of Government Performance Evaluation System, making it perfect for public participation style in process, building scientifically indicators system of National Happiness Index and Government Performance Evaluation, and improving scientific level of Government Performance Evaluation System Oriented by National Happiness Index.