A Study Of Information Exposing Mechanism In Public Services

Information is the fiber of a society that glues it together. In modern world where information dominants social life, it is of unprecedented significance that the government finds an effective way to manage its information. Therefore management of government information resources becomes an emerging subject for researchers as the public poses increasing interests on the political life and can only be satisfied with expanded access into the government information pool. In the context of China's transition from centralized economy to socialist market economy, the deepening of the national governance system reform,the improvement of ruling-the-country-by-law and the advancement of democracy and informationalization require the government to enhance its public functions by exposing its information to the people. Using public management theory, information asymmetry theory of the information economics, this article carries an in-depth analysis in a positivism way on the status quo, problems, causes of problems and risks lying in the government information management process as well as the impact of government's information-related acts on social moral. It conducts a specific case study on Xiamen's effort to build a transparent government, throwing some light on the conceptual and practical importance of making government operations visible to the people. In response to information asymmetry in government public services, the author puts forward some counter measures on the correction of the asymmetric problem from multi-angles including mindset change of the government staff, improvement of governance mechanism, interactions between government and market as well as government's responses to public demands.This article is divided into four parts:Chapter One deliberates on the concepts of government information management and public services functions with special discussion on such definitions as information, information transparency and government information management. Analysis is done on two segments of the government's public service functions, i.e. information guidance and provision of public utilities. It tells the practical significance of doing such research and exposes the social demand for improved access into government information.Chapter Two works on the status quo and problems of current information-related acts of the government. In the context of a national effort to build"Sunshine Government", this chapter analyses what the government has been and is doing in information exposure in its services and decision making, information asymmetry thereof, causes of information asymmetry, risks and the moral responsibilities of the government for its information acts.Chapter Three holds a discussion on what policies the Chinese government shall chose to tackle the challenges from information services and information asymmetry in the process of decision making. Proposal are provided on the solutions that includes different aspects of the issue, such as concept change of the government, institutional innovation and borrowing, interactions between government and market and government response to public needs.Chapter Four delivers a specific case study, based on the previous discussions, of Xiamen's effort to build a transparent government, throwing some light on the conceptual and practical importance of making government operations visible to the people.It concludes highlighting the importance for the government to make its information transparent to the people.