Li Xin, Hui Eddie C M, Shen Jianfu
School of Architecture, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hum Hong, Hong Kong.
Habitat Int. 2022 Sep;127:102629. doi: 10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102629. Epub 2022 Jul 19.
As COVID-19 is pervasive across the globe, governments in different countries face the dilemma of restricting the transmission risk of the virus by social distancing while yet maintaining economic activity. Inadequate social distancing policies lead to more infection cases and deaths, while over stringent social distancing policies have significant economic cost implications. This study investigates the role of local government institutions in striking the balance between saving lives and economic recovery. We based our study on a sample of 28 provincial governments in China during the early outbreak of 2020 when the emergency responses of local governments were synchronous. The findings show that local governments in those provinces with lower degrees of marketization, which were accustomed to directly intervene in the social system, mandatorily quarantined many more close contacts for each confirmed case than those in the more market-oriented provinces whose social distancing policies took economic considerations into account. The 'overdone' (over stringent) social distancing policies in the more state-oriented provinces led to lower human mobility and economic growth. This study highlights the importance of taking economic considerations into account when adopting policies and strategies to combat the spread of COVID-19 and how different institution management cultures lead to different outcomes.
由于新冠疫情在全球范围内广泛传播，不同国家的政府面临着两难困境：既要通过社交距离措施来限制病毒传播风险，又要维持经济活动。社交距离政策不力会导致更多感染病例和死亡，而过于严格的社交距离政策则会产生重大的经济成本影响。本研究探讨地方政府机构在平衡拯救生命和经济复苏方面所起的作用。我们的研究基于2020年初中国28个省级政府的样本，当时地方政府的应急反应是同步的。研究结果表明，在市场化程度较低、习惯于直接干预社会系统的省份，每个确诊病例强制隔离的密切接触者比市场化程度较高、社交距离政策考虑经济因素的省份要多得多。在更倾向于国家主导的省份，“过度”（过于严格）的社交距离政策导致人员流动性降低和经济增长放缓。本研究强调了在采取抗击新冠疫情传播的政策和策略时考虑经济因素的重要性，以及不同的机构管理文化如何导致不同的结果。
