本文利用我国28个省市区1978—2006年的数据,分析了我国外部风险对地方政府规模的影响。研究发现,在当前我国更为开放的市场经济中,外部风险导致了地方政府规模的扩大,且外部风险与社会保障和社会福利支出显著正相关。为了抵御外部风险,必须把一部分经济资源配置到政府部门,以增加社会保障和社会福利等方面的支出。 Based on the data of 1978-2006 in 28 provinces and cities in our country, this paper analyzes the influence of external risk on the scale of local government in our country. The study finds that in the current more open market economy in our country, external risks lead to the expansion of local government scale, and the external risks are significantly and positively correlated with social security and social welfare expenditures. In order to resist external risks, some economic resources must be allocated to government departments to increase spending on social security and social welfare.