近日，经济学院陈硕教授、香港浸会大学李亦然教授、中央财经大学王煜正博士的合作论文“Artificial Intelligence and Punctuated Equilibrium: Shaping Government Attention in the Digital Age”在公共管理国际顶级期刊Public Administration Review发表。

陈 硕

复旦大学特聘教授

Abstract

How do government attention and policy agendas shift when information constraints are relaxed through technological advancement? Punctuated equilibrium theory links agenda-setting dynamics to governments’ limited information-processing capabilities, yet we know little about whether and how technology improvement such as artificial intelligence (AI) influences policy agendas. This article proposes a conditional digital punctuation framework to specify the conditions under which technological advancements drive agenda shifts. Using China's implementation of AI initiatives as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that government attention exhibits a punctuated pattern. AI increases technology-focused attention, signaling incremental changes, while having minimal impact on general government attention. This selective impact stems from AI’s asymmetric effects on information processing. Specifically, AI significantly increases the procurement-based indicator of information quantity, which is associated with greater attention to technology sectors; however, no significant change is observed in the corresponding indicator of information quality, consistent with its limited impact on general government attention.