Our Party's New Understanding of Consumption
-Also on several frontier issues of consumption theory.
From despising consumption to attaching importance to consumption: the only purpose of our economic development and production is to meet the living and consumption needs of hundreds of millions of people.
Consumption is the purpose and motive force of economic development, which is a theory that Marx has already expounded. But in practical work, we pay insufficient attention to consumption. Since the 17th National Congress, our Party has raised its understanding of consumption to a new height. Comrade Hu Jintao pointed out in the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that it is necessary to "adhere to the policy of expanding domestic demand, especially consumer demand, and promote the transformation of economic growth from relying mainly on investment and exports to relying on coordinated growth of consumption, investment and exports". The Twelfth Five-Year Plan adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee further pointed out that it is necessary to "build a long-term mechanism to expand domestic demand and promote the transformation of economic growth to rely on consumption, investment and export coordination". These new spirits about consumption hit the nail on the head, which not only pointed out China's tendency to despise consumption in the past, but also emphasized the dynamic role of consumption in stimulating economic growth, which must be carried out to the letter.
We don't produce for the sake of production, engage in economy for the sake of economy, nor engage in production simply to increase GDP, let alone engage in economy for our own rice bowls. The only purpose of our economic development and production development is to meet the daily consumption needs of hundreds of millions of people and let them live a beautiful and happy life. The consumption demand of these hundreds of millions of people is a powerful realistic driving force for production development and a locomotive for economic progress.
It is of great significance to form a coordinated growth pattern of consumption, investment and export.
In contemporary times, generally speaking, economic growth (development) depends on the troika of consumption, investment and export. However, due to different national conditions, the collocation of the troika is also different. If it is a self-sufficient natural economy or a closed country, its economic development is basically driven by domestic consumption and investment; If it is an open small country or region with market economy (such as Singapore, Netherlands, Belgium and Hongkong in China), its economic growth or development is mainly driven by exports, and its dependence on foreign trade exports can reach 300% or even 400%. If it is a big country with an open market economy (such as the United States, Japanese, China, Indian, etc.). ), their economic development should be driven by the troika at the same time, with domestic consumption as the mainstay and investment and export as the supplement. Although the total export volume of the United States and Japan is not small, the dependence on foreign trade exports is only about 10%. China is the most populous country in the world, and its consumer market is unparalleled. Therefore, China must establish and always adhere to the basic national policy of giving priority to consumption and regard consumption as the first driving force to promote economic development. However, in the past 20 years, the first carriage that drives China's GDP growth is not consumption, but investment. (For detailed data, please refer to page 75 of China Statistical Yearbook 2007 compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics.) Since 2000, the pulling effect of this carriage has also been quite prominent, making the dependence on foreign trade exports reach 30%-35%, which is equivalent to 2-3 times that of the United States and Japan. From the above situation, we can see the significance of the CPC Central Committee's demand for "a coordinated growth mode of consumption, investment and export"!
We can't equate income with consumption, let alone savings with consumption. However, these two confusions often appear in newspapers and periodicals.
According to the traditional consumption theory (also known as the standard deterministic consumption theory), residents' income = consumption+savings, or consumption = income-savings. These two formulas show that income cannot be equated with consumption, and savings cannot be equated with consumption. However, these two kinds of confusion often appear in newspapers. In fact, even if income increases, it may not be used to improve life, but may be converted into savings, resulting in high savings and low consumption.
Compared with 1990 in 2009, the per capita income of urban and rural residents increased by 10.4 times and 6.5 times respectively, the per capita consumption of urban and rural residents increased by 8.6 times and 7.8 times respectively, and the per capita savings of urban and rural residents increased by 30.4 times. Isn't this high savings and low consumption? High savings is the root of high investment (traditional consumption theory holds that savings = investment). It can be said that high savings, high investment and low consumption have become the chronic diseases of China's economy, and we must make great efforts to control them.
In today's world, the relationship between consumption and savings is nothing more than two types. Which is better is worth discussing.
In today's world, the relationship between consumption and savings is nothing more than two kinds: low savings and high consumption represented by the United States and high savings and low consumption represented by Japan. Which of the two types is better is worth discussing.
Now it seems that they have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they also have their own conditions for existence, so we can't copy them. The United States has no savings but a lot of investment to support economic development. Where does the investment come from? By selling government bonds, corporate bonds and stocks to the whole world, and issuing US dollars all over the world, the huge foreign trade deficit can concentrate the capital of the whole world. This is not suitable for our country. China's construction funds mainly rely on internal accumulation, that is, from savings. In China, it is necessary to save (invest) a lot to promote the rapid development of production, and to meet the living needs of hundreds of millions of people on the basis of production development. Therefore, starting from the national conditions of China, we should make income, consumption and savings increase at the same time, or the proportional relationship among them remains unchanged. This is the theory of moderate consumption that I often advocate. This theory is different from the theory of declining consumption tendency and rising saving tendency.
At present, the theory of producer sovereignty is changing to the theory of consumer sovereignty, which is a major change in consumption system and consumption thought.
Modern consumption is based on market economy. Traditional consumption is based on natural economy or planned economy.
In the natural economy, the family is the unit of production and consumption, and consumers consume whatever they produce and consume as much as they produce, and operate in a closed way. Not only does there not exist the problem of intertemporal selection, but also the problem of transnational and interregional selection, so consumers have no power.
During the planned economy period, sales were determined by production, what was produced, what was sold and what was consumed; Sell as much as you produce and consume as much as you can. When demand exceeds supply, the government will take administrative measures or a ticket system to limit consumption. Natural consumers have little choice.
In a market economy, production is determined by sales, and what can be sold in the market (what residents buy) is produced; How much to sell (how much residents buy) and how much to produce. In other words, what consumers need is what they produce and what they sell; How much consumers need, how much they produce and how much they sell. The demand of consumers is the starting point of production and sales.
Comparing the above three economic forms, it is not difficult to find that the traditional consumption theory based on natural economy and planned economy is producer sovereignty theory, while the modern consumption theory based on market economy is consumer sovereignty theory.
With the transformation of China from planned economy to market economy, China's traditional consumption is changing to modern consumption, traditional consumption theory is changing to modern consumption theory, producer sovereignty theory is changing to consumer sovereignty theory, consumers are changing from the powerless to the empowered, and they are changing from "slaves" to "gods". This is a major change in the consumption system and consumption thought.
Four trends of current consumption structure changes
The consumption structure of residents is restricted by many socio-economic factors and natural factors, and it is constantly changing with the development of social production and scientific and technological progress. At present, there are some new trends:
First, service consumption is increasing. For thousands of years, human life has been dominated by physical consumption, supplemented by service consumption. Now it has reached an inflection point, and a new phenomenon has emerged in developed countries, that is, service consumption is the mainstay, supplemented by physical consumption. This new trend of consumption structure changes is also emerging in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The emergence of this new trend is not accidental, it is the inevitable result of the evolution of social industrial structure. In the physical composition of GDP, the proportion of physical consumer goods provided by agriculture (primary industry), industry and construction (secondary industry) has dropped to below 50%, while the proportion of service consumer goods provided by service industry (tertiary industry) has risen to above 50%, even reaching above 70% in developed countries. This new feature of industrial structure cannot but be reflected and embodied in the consumption structure of residents.
Second, the trend of green consumption is increasing. From the origin, human life consumption is green consumption from the beginning, that is, human beings rely on green organic substances for survival and development from the beginning. It can be said that green consumption is the primitive consumption of human beings. However, after the emergence of chemical industry and transgenic technology, it began to shake the original foundation of human green consumption. Scientific and technological progress is often a double-edged sword. As far as genetically modified foods are concerned, there are many opponents in Europe and Japan. In view of people's doubts about "chemistry" and "heredity", they naturally turn to attach importance to green consumption. This can be described as returning to the original.
The third is the growing trend of cultural consumption. Man is a gregarious animal. The fundamental difference between human beings and other animals is to create spiritual civilization and enjoy all advanced cultural achievements except making and using tools. China has entered a well-off society, and its main task is to build and realize a well-off society in an all-round way. Well-off life is different from hunger and cold life and food and clothing life. The latter mainly solves the problem of survival, while the former mainly solves the problem of development and enjoyment. The solution to the problem of development and enjoyment cannot be separated from certain material conditions, but more depends on the development of cultural undertakings and the improvement of residents' cultural life. Therefore, strengthening the trend of cultural consumption is a new trend that will inevitably appear on our way to a well-off society and prosperity.
The fourth is the growth trend of digital consumption. Today's society has entered the digital information age. Hardware: computer, camera, TV, DVD, monitor, network server, information platform, scanner, projector, image processor, data processor, etc. Endless, changing with each passing day; In terms of software, mobile communication network, Internet, satellite communication network, data exchange network, financial software, business software and engineering software are constantly innovating and developing rapidly. Although the above-mentioned information products have various appearances and different functions, they all have the same thing, that is, they all rely on digital operation and operation, so they are called digital products. This kind of product has both production process and consumption process. The consumption of digital products is called digital consumption for short. In the information age, the position and function of digital consumption is very prominent, and it is on the rise.
For the above four new consumption trends, government decision-making departments should adopt correct policies to guide and promote their development; Entrepreneurs should look for potential markets and real markets from these trends.
At present, it is urgent to truly unify industrial civilization, agricultural civilization and ecological civilization and build a civilized, economical, green and low-carbon consumption model.
Comrade Hu Jintao pointed out in the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that it is necessary to "build an ecological civilization, and basically form an industrial structure, growth mode and consumption mode that saves energy and resources and protects the ecological environment". This spirit is very important and should be well implemented. We should not only make economic growth and industrial structure ecological civilization, but also build China's consumption pattern into ecological civilization. The proposal adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee pointed out: "Reasonably guide consumption behavior, develop energy-saving and environmentally-friendly consumer goods, and advocate civilized, economical, green and low-carbon consumption patterns suitable for China's national conditions."
The so-called ecological civilization refers to the realization of a virtuous circle, all-round development and sustained prosperity on the basis of the objective laws of harmonious coexistence and harmonious development among people, society and nature. This kind of civilization has inherent unity with industrial civilization and agricultural civilization, which could have promoted each other and prospered together. However, they also have contradictions under certain conditions. This contradiction is particularly prominent at present. Some departments, localities and enterprises ignore ecological civilization, destroy the environment and consume too much resources and energy while building industrial civilization and agricultural civilization. This phenomenon exists not only in production and construction, but also in daily consumption. China has a large population, few resources and energy per capita, and the environmental pollution is quite serious. At present, it is urgent to truly unify industrial civilization, agricultural civilization and ecological civilization, adhere to the road of development of production civilization, affluent life and good ecology, and implement ecological civilization in every department, region, enterprise and family.