Abstract: To explore the relationship between efficiency and fairness is inseparable from China's specific national conditions and social and historical development stages. * * * and affluence are the practical basis and goal to realize the unity of efficiency and fairness. We should grasp the dialectical relationship between them in different dimensions of * * * timeliness and diachrony. It is wrong to mechanize and dogmatize the relationship between them.
[Keywords:] efficiency and fairness, national conditions, * * * and prosperity, * * * timeliness, diachronic
With the gradual deepening of economic system reform and the economic and social development of China, the widening gap between the rich and the poor has increasingly become the focus of public attention. Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the viewpoint of "paying more attention to social fairness", the debate on the relationship between efficiency and fairness has never stopped. Moreover, with the introduction of Scientific Outlook on Development and the theory of building a harmonious socialist society, how to deal with the relationship between efficiency and fairness has become a key issue related to the fate of the country. The author is also constantly thinking, and sometimes I have some ideas, which I would like to put forward here, hoping to contribute to the in-depth discussion of this issue.
The author's basic viewpoint is that the dialectical unity of fairness and efficiency is concrete and historical, not abstract, rigid and non-historical unity; In the process of reunification, which "priorities" and which "considerations" must be changed according to specific social, economic, political and cultural conditions, rather than unchanging.
First, China's national conditions: to explore the specific social and historical background of efficiency and fairness.
We can't copy the relevant western theories, and use purely abstract economic theory or economic statistical mathematical model to derive the relationship formula between efficiency and fairness, even if it is derived, it has no practical significance. Because the relationship between efficiency and fairness has never existed in the so-called general, ideal or linear economic environment, but in a very specific social, economic, political and cultural environment. Therefore, the author believes that we must explore the relationship between Socialism with Chinese characteristics and China in the process of modernization, the development of socialist market economy, the prosperity of China people and the rejuvenation of the nation, and the current difficulties they encounter. This social and historical background and specific national conditions must not be abandoned. China's national conditions are not dispensable external variables, but inherently exist in the dialectical relationship between efficiency and fairness and its historical changes, or the essential relationship between them. Only in the concrete and changing national conditions of China, in the realization of the approaching modernization goal, and in the constant change and improvement of the needs of the overwhelming majority of people's material and cultural life can it be realized and developed. It is meaningless to talk about the relationship between the two without this specific social and historical background and national conditions, no matter how exquisite its mathematical model and meticulous its logical reasoning are. To put it bluntly, either dogmatism with ulterior motives (either market fundamentalism in western mainstream economics or dogmatic Marxism) is not only wrong in theory, but also harmful in practice.
We need to pay close attention to the following factors: we have a population of more than1300 million, there are huge differences between urban and rural areas, regions and social strata, the economic aggregate is huge and the per capita output value is small, the economic, political and cultural development is obviously unbalanced, the international environment in which we live is dual, and high-risk attempts are made in systems and policies. These factors will make any scientific theory unrecognizable in practice. This is a problem that we must pay attention to when we study and implement the theory and policy measures of the relationship between efficiency and fairness. Say it again: these factors are not insignificant and negligible "noise", but the conditions, environment and background that we must practice.
Second, * * * with prosperity: the basis and goal of the unity of efficiency and fairness
An important value goal of Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the common prosperity of all people, and all our development is to achieve this goal. After careful analysis, we can know that * * * and prosperity are a unified goal of efficiency and fairness. "Abundance" means efficiency. Without efficient development, it is impossible to achieve prosperity-the increase of material wealth and spiritual wealth, and efficiency is nothing more than getting the most benefits at the least cost (time, resources, manpower, etc.). ). The inefficient economic process is the maintenance of simple reproduction at most, and it is impossible to increase wealth. There must be prosperity if there is efficiency. If you want to be rich, you must pursue efficiency, which is the objective requirement of the historical law of pursuing wealth; Giving up efficiency not only violates the law of achieving prosperity, but any other method and path can only be to seek fish from the edge of the tree. Needless to say, countless economic works have convincingly demonstrated this point.
The author emphasizes that our goal is not only to be rich, but to be "* * *", which is the embodiment of "fairness". "Rich" without "* * *" can only be rich without * * * *: the wealth of some people-the wealth of a few people-the wealth of a few people, and thus the poverty of some people-the poverty of most people-the poverty of the vast majority of people. This is undoubtedly the law of history. This "unification" means that all people enjoy the opportunity, conditions and environment to get rich equally, and enjoy the fruits of development equally, which is fairness. To this end, we should let all people enjoy public resources, products and services at an equal starting point and under equal conditions in terms of policy decision-making and implementation, system construction, operation system and incentive mechanism. If there is no such fairness, there can be no prosperity of "* * *". Wealth itself has no difference in social nature, but it is not wealth without subject, but its distribution and existence among social members are different from the social system, and "* * * with" embodies the characteristics of the socialist system in terms of production relations, and only "* * with" wealth is socialist wealth, which essentially embodies socialist values. Poverty is not socialism, and prosperity is not necessarily socialism. Only the prosperity of a few people is not socialism, and only the prosperity of all the people is socialism. Therefore, the unity of efficiency and fairness is first manifested in the fact that both of them aim at * * * and prosperity, and are specifically unified in the historical practice of realizing * * * and prosperity. It is abstract and useless to talk about the relationship between the two without * *.
This can also be understood from two other angles: first, * * * and prosperity define the essence of socialism from the height of dialectical unity of socialist productive forces and production relations. Only by vigorously developing productive forces can we increase wealth and achieve prosperity; Only by adhering to socialist public ownership of the means of production, equality, mutual assistance and cooperation among people in the production process, and "distribution according to work" of products can we have basic fairness and prosperity. In order to develop productive forces, we must pursue efficiency; In order to maintain, strengthen and improve socialist relations of production, we must pursue fairness. Without efficiency, there will be no development of productive forces, and without fairness, there will be no establishment and consolidation of socialist relations of production and basic economic system. The unity of efficiency and fairness is the unity of socialist productive forces and relations of production. Inefficient fairness and unfair efficiency violate the dialectical relationship between socialist productive forces and production relations, and it is impossible to achieve * * * and prosperity. Therefore, we must understand and grasp the relationship between efficiency and fairness in the essence of socialism: it is not conducive to the self-improvement of socialist relations of production and the realization of efficiency and prosperity.
Second, purely from the perspective of economic system, the basic goal of our economic system reform in the past 30 years is to establish and improve the socialist market economic system, which can be simply and mechanically understood as "socialism+market economy", and further, whether it is a market economy with socialist nature or a market economy that serves, obeys and aims at socialism-obviously, there is a difference between socialism and market economy, leaving aside for the time being; On the other hand, if the essential trend of socialism is fairness-all working people are masters of their own affairs, distribution according to work, elimination of exploitation, elimination of polarization and so on. The essential trend of the market economy is efficiency-to obtain (create and distribute) wealth efficiently through the market resource allocation mechanism, then the socialist market economy will have different realistic manifestations in the relationship between efficiency and fairness: or pay attention to fairness and efficiency, fairness obeys efficiency, efficiency is the purpose, and fairness is the means. Or emphasize the fairness of efficiency, which is subordinate to fairness, fairness is the purpose and efficiency is the means (this academic discussion is rare). The author thinks that because socialism is overall, decisive and dominant for our country and social system, and the market economy is limited to the economic field (even the western countries with extremely developed market economy are shouting the slogan of "developing market economy instead of market society"), generally speaking, the relationship between efficiency and fairness should be the latter: efficiency is for fairness, and efficiency obeys fairness-this is also in line with Comrade Deng Xiaoping's "get rich first" and "get rich first" Let some people and some regions get rich first through honest labor and legal management, and finally achieve common prosperity through getting rich first and then getting rich. Obviously, some people get rich first is the result of efficiency, while some people get rich first only to achieve socialist fairness, that is, to achieve wealth; Otherwise, being rich is a utopia for working people.
Third, different combinations of different "economic units": the time specificity of the unity of efficiency and fairness.
The present situation of social productivity level in China is complicated: diachronic productivity of different natures exists, permeates and influences each other, which makes great differences among different regions, different industries, different departments, different industries, different enterprises and different people (owners of production factors) in the whole production division chain. Since any economic unit must face the relationship between efficiency and fairness, there is a specific problem of how to deal with it: in short, it is the relationship between the two. Through the system reform, those regions, industries, departments, industries, enterprises and the masses (hereinafter referred to as different "economic units") that have the conditions to work honestly and operate legally will get rich first; For the country, getting rich first is by no means the ultimate goal, but only to create conditions for further realizing all * * * prosperity. Failure to obey fairness and efficiency, that is, failure to obey all the rich to get rich first, will inevitably lead to uncoordinated, unbalanced and unsustainable economic and social development, and its consequences have been proved by thousands of years of human history.
More specifically, the relationship between efficiency and fairness-giving priority to efficiency, giving consideration to fairness, giving priority to fairness, giving consideration to efficiency, or giving overall consideration to efficiency and fairness, placing them in the same important position, and so on. -It is not only "one size fits all" or "swarming", but also flexible and strategic even for the same "economic unit". At the same time of national development, different economic units can flexibly adopt the above different combinations of efficiency and fairness, and promote the realization of fairness through the different combinations of efficiency and fairness under the premise of ensuring micro-efficiency, that is, the accumulation of fair amount. Therefore, the author opposes that when the central authorities give priority to efficiency and give consideration to fairness, the whole country and all economic units are scrambling to pay attention to efficiency, and when the central authorities say "pay more attention to social fairness", they all pay attention to fairness inefficiently, and so on. From the height of the overall situation, the central government defines the general relationship between the two in this specific stage of national and social development according to the key points and outstanding problems in development. Each "economic unit" should choose the appropriate relationship combination according to its own specific situation on the premise of helping to realize the fundamental goal of the country. This is called seeking truth from facts, looking at the situation and analyzing specific problems. In this way, any formulation, mechanization and dogmatism of the relationship between the two is contrary to dialectics, so it is very harmful in practice.
Fourthly, different combinations in different historical stages: diachronic concreteness of the unity of efficiency and fairness.
On the surface, as long as there is a relationship between * * * and wealth, efficiency and fairness can be flexibly combined. At the beginning of the reform, the outstanding problem was the overall inefficiency. Therefore, it is very correct to implement the policy of "giving priority to efficiency and giving consideration to fairness" throughout the country. The contradiction between efficiency and fairness has reached a very acute level when the first rich person is rich enough and the not rich person is extremely poor, so that the first rich person can no longer be rich, or there is great danger of social stability. If this problem is not solved in time and properly, it will inevitably lead to both the rich and the poor. At this time, the slogan of "giving priority to fairness and giving consideration to efficiency" was clearly put forward and put into practice. However, the actual historical process will not be so mechanical. The author believes that in most cases, the relationship between efficiency and fairness should be basically equivalent: fairness is an end, but it must be achieved by efficient means. Although efficiency is a means, efficiency is supreme even if it is not emphasized when there is a problem in survival; But this is relative, not absolute. The relationship between efficiency and fairness is dynamic rather than static, and it will change with the development of prosperity.
* * * Being rich is indeed a goal at the beginning, but it is not the so-called "ultimate" goal and has nothing to do with the specific process. * * * being rich is also a development process, which is the inevitable result of pursuing all aspects of * * * being rich in this process, so the essence of the whole process must be stipulated; A social and historical process that has nothing to do with * * * prosperity cannot achieve the goal of * * * prosperity. * * * Money is the goal, but I'm afraid it can't be achieved by hook or by crook; This "goal" can't be achieved without the means related to prosperity in essence. The historical process of * * and prosperity is the unity of the means and purpose of * * and prosperity. Deng Xiaoping's theory on the essence of socialism profoundly shows that liberating and developing productive forces is a necessary means to achieve prosperity, but it is not a sufficient means, let alone the only means; Eliminating exploitation and polarization is also an indispensable means to achieve prosperity, that is, to achieve fairness, and it is one of the necessary and sufficient means. In fact, the relationship between means and ends is also the relationship between efficiency and fairness. With the development level and different problems of * * * and affluence, different combinations of efficiency and fairness are determined, which is also realistic and varies from situation to situation. Dogmatizing Comrade Deng Xiaoping's thought of "giving priority to efficiency and giving consideration to fairness" goes against the essence of Deng Xiaoping Theory's thought.
In short, the author believes that under the current situation, considering the overall situation of national and social development, it is undoubtedly a wise move in line with China's national conditions and its changes and the reality of socialist development, otherwise it will be a historic disaster for the Chinese nation. At present and for a long time to come, at least in the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, we should give overall consideration to the relationship between fairness and efficiency, keep an appropriate historical tension between them, handle the specific relationship between them in a timely and diachronic manner, and implement "fairness first, efficiency second" in necessary fields and necessary "economic units" as long as it is conducive to the realization of * * * and prosperity.