中國社會福利體系的普遍建立是在社會政策創新的基礎上經由地方逐漸擴散到全國的過程。政府間關系對社會政策創新擴散發揮著重要的助推作用。以"城市低保制度"在全國200多個城市七年間(1993—1999)迅速建立的過程為例,分析社會政策創新在各級政府間的擴散機制,結果顯示:第一,城市政府在采納新的社會政策時,既要回應當地社會需求并考慮財政資源約束,還受到來自上級政府的行政命令和上下級財政關系的影響,并考慮來自同級城市的競爭壓力。第二,城市政府的政策創新為上級政府提供了經驗學習的機會。第三,中央命令同時向城市政府施加著直接和間接影響,而省級命令發揮著中介傳導機制的作用。第四,中央和省級命令對城市政府的政策采納施加影響的時間滯后效應存在明顯差異。

Universal access to China’s social welfare system involved a process of diffusion from localities to the whole country on the basis of innovative social policy.Inter-governmental relations have played an important part in facilitating and encouraging innovation in and diffusion of social policy.The rapid establishment of the urban subsistence allowance in more than 200 cities and towns throughout the country in seven years(1993-1999)serves as a case study for analysis of the mechanism of diffusion of social policy innovation at different levels of government.Our findings show,firstly,that in adopting a new social policy,urban governments have to respond to the requirements of local society and take into account fiscal constraints.At the same time,they are affected by administrative orders from higher levels of government and the fiscal relations between higher and lower governmental levels,and are also subject to competitive pressures from cities at the same level.Secondly,urban governments’ policy innovations offer an opportunity for higher levels of government to learn from their experience.Thirdly,central government orders simultaneously exert a direct and indirect influence upon urban governments,with provincial orders acting as intermediaries and conductors.And fourthly,there is a clear difference between the lagged effect of orders from the central government and those at provincial level upon urban governments’ adoption of policies.