American economists Du and Crowe believe that "the characteristics of a market economy are the private ownership of production factors, private enthusiasm for production and operation guided by the profit motive, and households' choices about spending decisions and saving decisions. Freedom.” For example, American economist Thompson believes that “the most important characteristics of a market economy are: private ownership of economic resources and means of production, freedom of individual choice, competition, profit motive, and market demand and supply conditions. Price. ”
Western economists who hold to the definition of market economy 2 believe that we cannot talk about the characteristics of market economy in general, but should first distinguish between capitalist market economy and socialist market economy, and then discuss capitalism separately. Characteristics of market economy and characteristics of socialist market economy. For example, the American economist Bornstein divided the market economy into two categories in his book "Comparative Economic Systems": one is the "capitalist market economy" and the other is the "socialist market economy." He believes that the characteristics of a capitalist market economy are: (1) private ownership of the means of production and private enterprises that occupy the means of production; (2) economic profit dominates as the guiding force for production decisions; (3) reliance on market and price allocation Resources and distribution products. He believes that the characteristics of the socialist market economy are: (1) collective ownership and state ownership; (2) economic profit dominates as the guiding force for production decisions; (3) relying on the market and prices to allocate resources and distribute products. He believes that the characteristics of the socialist market economy are: (1) collective ownership and state ownership; (2) limited inequality in income distribution; (3) using the market and prices to allocate resources and distribute products.
In the new century, with the initial establishment and gradual improvement of the socialist market economic system, my country's economy has developed rapidly, is full of vitality, and is increasingly open. At the same time, it also requires us to further understand and master the characteristics and inherent laws of the socialist market economy so that when we formulate and implement principles and policies, we can comply with objective economic laws and be conducive to the healthy development of the national economy.
According to China's current reality, we need to have a good grasp of the characteristics and inherent laws of the socialist market economy, which mainly include the following aspects.
1. The market plays a fundamental role in resource allocation. The law of value regulates socialist production and circulation
The biggest difference between the socialist market economy and the traditional planned economy is that the market plays a fundamental role in resource allocation. There are fundamental differences between the roles in resource allocation. The former plays a fundamental role, that is, the main regulator; the latter does not play a role or only plays a small role. According to Marxist economics, in the socialist market economy, the law of value is the main regulator of social production and circulation; in the traditional planned economy, the law of value has no regulatory role. It is the state that regulates social production and circulation. Mandatory plan.
The reason why our country implemented reform and opening up, promoted economic system reform, and shifted from a planned economic system to a market economic system is because the original planned economy played a positive role in the 1950s. Since then, its shortcomings have become increasingly prominent, including low efficiency, lack of vitality, and incorrect goods, which has widened the economic and technological gap between us and developed countries, and the people's living standards have been slowly improving. Different from this, from the reform and opening up in 1979 to the present, with the strong promotion of market-oriented reforms, my country's economic development has accelerated, with an average annual growth rate of 9.4% in the past 25 years, ranking at the forefront of the world. Economic strength and comprehensive national strength have been greatly enhanced, and per capita GDP By last year, it exceeded 1,000 US dollars, and people's lives have improved significantly, and have generally reached a moderately prosperous level. This shows that replacing the planned economy with a market economy can further liberate social productivity, utilize and allocate resources more effectively, and achieve more fruitful development results.
In a social market economy, the most important objective law that governs economic operations is the law of value, that is, the prices of goods and services fluctuate with changes in supply and demand. They rise when supply exceeds demand and fall when demand exceeds supply. , each enterprise decides and adjusts its own production and operations according to changes in market prices, thereby maintaining the balance between social production and social demand. This is the main meaning of the law of value regulating social production and circulation. Engels said in "Anti-Dühring" that "the law of value is the basic law of commodity production.
"Sun Yefang, a famous Chinese economist, said as early as the early 1960s, "Thousands of laws, ten thousand laws, the first law of value." This famous saying is most appropriate when applied to the current socialist market economy. Therefore, when we say that we must respect objective laws in economic work, we must first respect the laws of value, relevant laws of supply and demand, laws of competition, etc., except those that are natural monopolies, have externalities, and so on. Except for the provision of public goods, etc., we should let the law of value regulate, that is, market regulation.
It is worth noting that there are still some problems in playing the fundamental role of the market in resource allocation. The main shortcomings are that the government has too many resources, and the government intervenes and approves too much in economic activities. In some cases, the market mechanism can optimize the allocation of resources, but the government adopts planned economic methods, thus causing waste and losses. Sometimes the government monopolizes and blocks the market, which affects the development of fair competition and distorts market signals. Therefore, the most important thing we need to do to improve the socialist market economic system is to better leverage the role of the market in resource allocation. The fundamental role of the government is to enable enterprises to become true market entities; that is, the government must further transform its functions and no longer act as the protagonist in resource allocation and the protagonist in influencing the market. It should not directly interfere in the production and operation activities of enterprises, but should respect the role of the law of value. , giving full play to the positive role of the market mechanism in regulating resource allocation, allowing enterprises to make production and operation decisions independently based on market signals
2. Enterprises are the main body of market economic activities, and the separation of government and capital must be truly realized. /p>
To choose a socialist market economy and allow the market to play a fundamental role in resource allocation, enterprises must become independent market entities and interest entities, operate independently, be responsible for their own profits and losses, and bear their own risks. For non-state-owned enterprises. It is relatively easy to do this, although there is still a lot of administrative interference from the government, which needs to be gradually resolved. For state-owned enterprises, the experience of more than 20 years of reform and opening up shows that state-owned enterprises have never been the competent authorities. The separation of appendages into independent market entities is a radical transformation. On the one hand, from the perspective of enterprises, everything depends on the superior authorities and they act according to their instructions. The economic benefits are good or bad, and there is no improvement in operation and management. Enthusiasm and initiative have no vitality. Now if we want to transform into an independent market entity, operate independently and be responsible for our own profits and losses, we must strive to adapt to the market, participate in market competition, and bear risks. If we do well, we will continue to grow and develop. It can also increase profits, otherwise it may suffer losses or even go bankrupt. The market mechanism is like a ruthless whip, urging companies to continuously improve technology, improve business management, and move forward without stopping. On the other hand, From the government's point of view, it used to directly direct various microeconomic activities, approve and issue instructions for various economic activities of enterprises. Since enterprises are often managed by multiple parties and have many tasks to control water, various departments compete to take credit for the good production and operation of enterprises. They keep it in their own names, but if something goes wrong, they blame each other and no one wants to take responsibility. Therefore, the most important thing to promote market-oriented reform is to transform government functions, implement the separation of government from enterprises, and the separation of government and capital. The government will no longer interfere with the production and operation activities of enterprises, and abolish some professional departments that were originally in charge of enterprises. Since such reforms involve the interests of many administrative departments and their officials, they are often obstructed by these departments and face many difficulties. Once you are used to being a "mother-in-law" and can't give orders, you will feel uncomfortable. Therefore, if state-owned enterprises want to truly become independent market entities, they must insist on the separation of government and enterprise, and the separation of government and capital. They must be coordinated by the transformation of government functions. The government will no longer interfere in microeconomic activities, and the government functions will be transformed into economic regulation, market supervision, and social Management and public services will shift to mainly serving market entities and creating a good development environment.
It should be pointed out that until now, the reforms to transform government functions, separate government from enterprises, and separate government from capital have not yet been fully implemented. Some original administrative departments have been transformed into administrative companies or flop companies, and still directly intervene in the production and operation activities of enterprises. Even if state-owned enterprises are reformed into shareholding systems, as long as the state-owned shares dominate, it will be difficult to separate the government and enterprises, because the state-owned holding company actually becomes the "mother-in-law" of the joint-stock company, and the holding company is often the administrative one mentioned above. Company, flop company. This makes the joint-stock company appear to have been restructured, but it has not separated government from enterprise and is still not a real market entity.
There are also government departments, especially many local governments, who often take "very good care" of enterprises in the region, whether state-owned or non-state-owned. They not only open up sales for local enterprises' products by blocking the market and exclude foreign products, but also block projects , financing, taxation, land use, etc., and sometimes even use unscrupulous means, including illegal and disciplinary violations, to provide convenient conditions for the construction and development of local enterprises, such as the "Tieben Incident" in Jiangsu Province in 2004. A small private steel business owner with only 300 million yuan in capital suddenly wanted to build a large steel company with an annual output of more than 8 million tons with an investment of more than 10 billion yuan. He did not apply for project approval, did not go through the review of the environmental protection department, and illegally occupied 2,000 acres of farmland. With so many acres, it would be unimaginable without the strong help of the local government. Furthermore, when local enterprises face bankruptcy or debt due to poor management, local governments will step forward to act as a protective umbrella, intercede with the central government, and ask for money or loans from central departments, which is equivalent to assuming unlimited liability for the enterprises. This goes against the principles of market economy, is a serious misalignment of government functions, and is also a sign that companies have not yet become true market entities.
In order to make state-owned enterprises become independent market entities, it is necessary not only to separate government from enterprises, but also to separate government and capital, that is, the implementation of the government's public management functions and the government's performance as a state-owned asset investor are separated. When the government performs its functions as an investor in the state-owned assets of wholly state-owned enterprises and holding or joint-stock enterprises, it only acts as the boss and shareholder, and cannot be the mother-in-law. It cannot play the roles of the board of directors and managers. Otherwise, it will become the boss plus mother-in-law. It is still the case that there is no distinction between government and enterprise. .
It can be seen that in order to act in accordance with the laws of the socialist market economy and make the market play a fundamental role in resource allocation, we must first make enterprises independent market entities, and the government mainly performs public management functions. It should be noted that problems in this area have not yet been resolved, and reforms must continue to be deepened and gradually implemented.
3. National macro-control is mainly to implement the scientific concept of development and promote the stable and rapid development of the national economy
The modern market economy is not completely left to regulation by the market mechanism; National macro-control. The same is true for the socialist market economy.
The report of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stated: "Promoting economic growth, increasing employment, stabilizing prices, and maintaining a balanced balance of international payments should be the main goals of macroeconomic control." This is our country's reform and opening up over the past 20 years. The scientific summary of rich experience in macro-control is in line with the development laws of the market economy. Many market economy countries in the world regard the above four aspects as the main goals of national macro-control. Practice at home and abroad shows that under the conditions of market economy, the relationship between growth and stability must be well handled, and it is necessary to promote economic growth while maintaining economic stability. In the long run, achieving economic growth amid economic stability is the most desirable and fastest way. Otherwise, if we pursue economic growth one-sidedly, do not pay attention to economic stability, and do not seek growth amid stability, we will easily experience ups and downs, and ups and downs will inevitably lead to waste and loss of productivity. In this way, taking detours will make you slower. Among the first four goals, the first is to promote economic growth, and the last three are to maintain economic stability. Therefore, national macro-control can be summarized as promoting the steady and rapid development of the national economy. The key point is that under conditions of economic stability, market signals are relatively stable and accurate, and the market's function of effectively allocating resources can be better exerted, which is conducive to promoting economic growth and achieving faster development.
In the socialist market economy, in order to do a good job in macro-control, we must establish and conscientiously implement the Scientific Outlook on Development to achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development. This is an important summary of my country’s experience in developing a socialist market economy. The basic content of the Scientific Outlook on Development is people-oriented, with five coordinating factors, namely, coordinating urban and rural development, coordinating regional development, coordinating economic and social development, coordinating the harmonious development of man and nature, and coordinating domestic development and opening up to the outside world. The essence of overall planning is coordination, and the essence of five overall plans is to achieve coordinated development among the five. By achieving five coordinating measures, we can not only effectively maintain economic stability, but also seize the opportunity to promote economic growth, thereby achieving steady and rapid development of the national economy.
Under market economy conditions, macroeconomic control mainly uses economic and legal means. This is fundamentally different from the state's main use of administrative means to regulate social and economic activities under planned economy conditions. Specifically, it mainly uses fiscal policy and monetary policy to implement tight fiscal and monetary policies when the economy is overheating or has a tendency to overheat; conversely, when the economy is too cold or deflation occurs, loose fiscal policies and monetary policies are implemented. policy.
The purpose is to maintain economic stability, work hard to smooth out economic fluctuations, and prevent ups and downs. Sometimes people call this kind of operation a counter-cyclical measure, which aims to prevent the economy from rising too high when it rises and strive to extend the rising period; when the economy is depressed, it should not fall too much and the duration should not be too long. Therefore, the country's macro-control and the implementation of loose or tight fiscal and monetary policies are all aimed at achieving short-term (usually one or two years) economic balance, but cannot make it long-term. Accordingly, if the proactive fiscal policy implemented by our country since 1998 is extended to a long-term basis, it seems inconsistent with the function of macro-control under a market economy. Related to this, it seems that we should not take expanding domestic demand as a long-term policy. When inflation occurs or there is obvious inflationary pressure, it is worth studying whether we can generally talk about expanding domestic demand. For example, in 2004, consumption demand was mainly expanded, while investment demand not only could not be expanded, but on the contrary must be restricted, because since 2003, my country's overall investment has been overheated.
In our country, industrial policy is often used as an important policy for macro-control. This is a rather complex and controversial issue in the economics community. In the past, because the industrial policies formulated and implemented by the government basically did not work in practice, and even the industries encouraged by the government often failed to develop, while the industries restricted by the government developed prosperously, many people doubted the effectiveness of industrial policies. Considering that China has a strong state-owned economy and state-owned assets exceeding the annual GDP, the government's economic functions have always been strong. The government often uses industrial policy to adjust the industrial structure. Therefore, in addition to mainly using fiscal policy and monetary policy, macroeconomic control can also use Industrial policy to improve the industrial structure, strengthen weak links, and restrain the excessive expansion of certain industries. As for whether the government's industrial policy is effective, it mainly depends on whether the policy formulation is in line with the laws of the market economy, whether it is consistent with the country's long-term development strategy, and whether it is conducive to the stable and rapid development of the national economy.
4. Scientifically evaluate the effects of market economic activities to ensure the sustainable development of the socialist market economy
my country’s socialist market economy is a government-led market economy. The government plays a leading role in the market economy. plays an important role in. The difficulty in scientifically evaluating the effects of market economic activities lies not in enterprises, but in the government, especially how to evaluate the performance of local governments and their officials.
In the past, people generally used GDP and its growth rate as the main criteria for evaluating government performance, and ranked them year after year. If the GDP growth rate is high, the political performance will be good; if the GDP growth rate is low, the political performance will be poor. As a result, various places are competing with each other, going all out to strive for rapid GDP growth, and they all want to be first. If you are faster, I will be faster than you. Therefore, people describe these local governments as GDP governments. However, years of practice, especially in recent years, have shown that there are many problems in doing so.
First, using GDP growth as the only or main indicator for evaluating government performance will inevitably ignore the development of various social undertakings, resulting in an uncoordinated situation in which economic development is long and social development is short. Deng Xiaoping said that development is the last word. However, development includes both economic development and social development, including the development of science and technology, education, environmental protection, culture, medical care, health, fitness, tourism, leisure, entertainment and other undertakings. The purpose of development is to improve people's living standards and quality, and finally achieve the all-round development of people. This requires not only economic development, so that society's material wealth will increase, but also the development of various social undertakings so that the people have the conditions to receive good education, medical care, and health care, have a beautiful living environment, and have a rich and colorful cultural life. The report of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stated, “In the first two decades of this century, we must concentrate our efforts to comprehensively build a higher-level moderately prosperous society that benefits more than one billion people, so that the economy will be more developed, democracy will be more complete, science and education will be more advanced, and science and education will be more advanced. The culture will be more prosperous, the society will be more harmonious, and people's lives will be more prosperous. "To achieve this, economic development and GDP growth are not enough. We must also have the development of social undertakings. Therefore, when looking at the performance of a local government, one cannot just look at GDP growth.
Second, using GDP growth as the only or most important indicator for evaluating government performance will also encourage the government’s short-term behavior and affect the sustainable development of the economy. Because of economic growth and GDP growth, we can adopt a quick-flow method, that is, use extensive expansion to consume a large amount of resources and energy, destroy the ecological environment, and achieve rapid growth in a short period of time.
For a country like my country with relatively insufficient resources, fragile ecology and serious environmental pollution, this is obviously undesirable and unsustainable. The report of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that my country should take a new industrialization path, that is, "to find a new industrialization path with high scientific and technological content, good economic benefits, low resource consumption, less environmental pollution, and full use of human resource advantages." According to reports, over the past 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, my country's GDP has increased by more than 10 times, and the consumption of mineral resources has also increased by more than 40 times. Last year, my country consumed approximately 5 billion tons of domestic and imported resources. The consumption of crude oil, raw coal, iron ore, steel, alumina, and cement was approximately 7.4%, 31%, 30%, and 27% of the world's consumption respectively. %, 25% and 40%, while the GDP created is only equivalent to 4% of the world's total. Hey, for our country, it is urgent to change the mode of economic growth and take a new path of industrialization. When looking at the economic development of a region, we should not just look at GDP growth, but also look at the price paid behind GDP growth. Recently, some scholars have suggested using green GDP as an indicator to evaluate economic development, that is, deducting the cost of nature and the environment from GDP growth (for example, in 1973, the Japanese government stipulated the allowable environmental pollution of air, water, garbage, etc. If the pollution standard exceeds the pollution standard, the improvement funds must be deducted from GDP as a cost. According to this method, Japan's economic growth rate that year was no longer 8.5%, but 5.8%). This is worthy of everyone's attention and further research. of.
Third, using GDP growth as the only or most important indicator for evaluating government performance will also encourage some government officials to commit fraud. In the past, there was a popular saying that “officials report numbers, and numbers show officials”, which mainly refers to officials falsely reporting GDP figures, exaggerating achievements, and then cheating their way into promotions. Instead of relying on actual figures, some local officials first inquire about the GDP figures of surrounding areas, and then instruct the statistics department to report GDP growth figures that are higher than those of other areas to show that their political performance is superior to others. However, it is generally difficult for ordinary people to supervise the falsification of GDP figures.
In order to achieve the sustainable development of my country's socialist market economy, it is necessary to formulate a scientific evaluation system. For the whole country or a region, the first step is to gradually change the single indicator of GDP growth to a multi-faceted indicator, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Development Committee proposed indicators in four aspects: social, environmental, economic and institutional. We can learn from it. The second step is to gradually develop the GDP indicator into a green GDP indicator. The next step is to strengthen the verification of statistical figures, seriously investigate and deal with fraudsters, and enhance the transparency and accuracy of statistical information. It can be seen that finding an indicator system to correctly evaluate the effects of socialist market economic activities is of great significance to the sustainable development of the socialist market economy.
5. Regulate market economic activities in accordance with the law and ensure the healthy operation of the market economy
The modern market economy is an economy ruled by law, and the socialist market economy is also an economy ruled by law. The practice of domestic and foreign market economies has proved that only when the market economy operates on the track of the rule of law can it play its positive role more effectively and reduce the negative effects caused by its spontaneous adjustment. The market economy is a competitive economy and implements fair competition to improve efficiency. This requires regulating how to compete and forming effective competition rules or game rules. It can be seen that only when the socialist market economy operates on the track of the rule of law can its healthy development be guaranteed.
In 1997, the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China determined the strategy of governing the country according to law. This is a major shift in our country from the rule of men to the rule of law. In line with this, the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that we should adapt to the new situation of the development of the socialist market economy, comprehensive social progress and accession to the WTO, strengthen legislative work, improve the quality of legislation, and form a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics by 2010. This legal system must comply with the requirements of the laws of market economy and serve to consolidate the economic foundation of the socialist market economy. The Third Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China further proposed to comprehensively promote the construction of the economic legal system, that is, in accordance with the basic strategy of governing the country according to law, focusing on establishing systems, standardizing rights and responsibilities, protecting rights and interests, and strengthening economic legislation. Mainly include: improving the legal system for market entities and intermediary organizations, so that all types of market entities truly have full behavioral capabilities and responsibility capabilities. Improve the property rights legal system, standardize and rationalize property rights relationships, and protect various property rights and interests. Improve the legal system for market transactions, ensure freedom of contract and transaction security, and maintain fair competition. Improve laws and regulations on budget, taxation, finance and investment, and standardize economic regulation and market supervision.
Improve laws and regulations on labor, employment and social security, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers and citizens. Improve laws and regulations in the social field and sustainable development to promote economic development and overall social progress.
In accordance with the requirements of the rule of law economy, on the one hand, microeconomic actors, mainly enterprises, must operate in accordance with the law, pay taxes in accordance with regulations, and handle internal relations within the enterprise in accordance with the law. In particular, they must protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees, abide by environmental protection and safety regulations. , contracts and other regulations. At the same time, the independence and various rights and interests of enterprises as market entities must be protected in accordance with the law, and the property rights of corporate legal persons must be protected, etc. On the other hand, it requires the government to be a government based on the rule of law. The government must manage enterprises, social organizations and individuals in accordance with the law and cannot issue arbitrary orders. The "Implementation Outline for Comprehensively Promoting Administration by Law" issued by the State Council in early 2004 stated that China will basically achieve the goal of building a law-based government through about ten years of unremitting efforts, which mainly includes seven aspects. First, realize the separation of government and enterprise. Second, propose legal proposals and draft local regulations. Third, laws, regulations, and rules must be fully and correctly implemented. Fourth, scientific, democratic, and standardized administrative decision-making mechanisms and systems have been basically formed. Fifth, form an efficient, convenient, and low-cost mechanism to prevent and resolve social conflicts. Sixth, administrative power and responsibility are closely linked and completely decoupled from the interests of the subjects of administrative power. Seventh, improve the legal quality of administrative staff, especially leading cadres at all levels. It can be seen that in the future, the government's management and intervention in the economy must be carried out in accordance with the law, and it can no longer mainly use administrative means and issue instructions as it did during the planned economy period in the past. Since government and enterprises are separated, the government's economic adjustment mainly uses economic and legal means, implements appropriate fiscal and monetary policies, and uses economic levers such as interest rates, tax rates, and exchange rates.
In the socialist market economy, it is very important to correctly define the relationship between policy, market and enterprises. Generally speaking, anything that can be solved efficiently by the market should be left alone by the government. Unless otherwise provided by law, the government will not take care of any issues that citizens, businesses, social organizations, including intermediary organizations, etc., can independently and effectively solve. The government is mainly engaged in public administration. The government must be frugal, efficient and clean when using taxpayers' money. Government officials must understand that not only power is given by the people, but government revenue is also paid by the people, and must be taken from the people and used by the people. Some officials pointed out that it is impossible for the government to give more to the people than it takes from them. The government's money is paid by taxpayers and ordinary people. It would be good if the money can be used for the people. The government is not the main body in wealth creation. It would be good if the government can consume less and do more things to serve the people. All of these must be determined by laws and regulations and become everyone's common sense and code of conduct.
Furthermore, law enforcement must be fair. It's not okay to have no law to follow, it's not okay to not follow the law, and it's not okay to enforce the law laxly or unfairly. If the law cannot be enforced fairly, no matter how good the law is, it will be of little use, and the socialist market economy will still not be able to operate on the track of the rule of law. Therefore, a good legal concept and law-abiding awareness must be formed in the whole society, and a good judicial environment must be formed. In this regard, in addition to conducting publicity and education, government leaders must take the lead in enforcing the law and strictly enforce the law to truly ensure that everyone is equal before the law and no one is above the law.