A Study On Local Government Fiscal Transparency For The Prevention And Control Of COVID-19

Since the founding of the New China,the COVID-19 is a major public health emergency with the fastest spread,the widest scope of infection,and the greatest difficulty in prevention and control.This paper draws on the discussion of "who pays for nucleic acid testing",aiming to study the financial transparency of local governments in the prevention and control of the COVID-19.Firstly,the article collects data from 11 prefecture-level cities and 90 districts and counties in Zhejiang Province,and comprehensively collates the financial expenditures of local governments on the prevention and control of the COVID-19 from 2020 to 2021.Secondly,the article analyzes the fiscal revenue and expenditure initiatives of local governments in response to the COVID-19 in two dimensions: the sources and composition of fiscal expenditures.Then,through data analysis and case studies,the article depicts the current situation of financial transparency in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 in Zhejiang Province,and reveals the problems behind the current situation from the aspects of information disclosure norms,degree of specificity,and timeliness of disclosure.Based on the analysis data,the article explores the factors influencing fiscal transparency for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 in Zhejiang Province.The paper finds that regional economic development level,population density,and fiscal revenue scale are important factors affecting the fiscal transparency of local governments during the COVID-19.In order to change the status quo,solve problems,and apply rules,the article introduces the Balanced Score Card Theory,designs an indicator system that includes four dimensions: financial dimension,internal process dimension,learning and growth dimension,and public dimension.This index system covers many aspects such as system and decision-making norms,internal management processes,financial implementation efficiency,accountability and supervision,information platform construction,financial performance evaluation,social credibility and so on.Based on the above research,this paper hopes to promote the theoretical research on the disclosure of public financial expenditure(including subject,content,form and social supervision channels)in the field of emergency management.The study put forward specific suggestions for improving the fiscal transparency of major public health emergencies on strengthening the construction of an integrated financial information disclosure system,improving the design of the fiscal transparency evaluation system,strengthening the accountability and supervision of fiscal disclosure,and improving the digital level of fiscal disclosure,and promoting the transparency,institutionalization,standardization and procedure of information release.