The rule of law is an important feature of modern market economy, and the mature market economy system echoes the sound rule of law. To realize the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, the most important premise is that the behavior of market subjects is bound and protected by law. A perfect socialist market economic system needs to allocate all kinds of resources fairly, justly and openly, realize the distribution and redistribution of interests more justly, and accordingly require the formulation of a legal system suitable for the socialist market economy. Protect market competition by law, maintain the operation of market economy, and stimulate the vitality of market players. Giving full play to its role requires legal norms. Without sound laws and lax enforcement, it is impossible to establish a market economic system.
The Decision of the Central Committee on Several Major Issues of Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee pointed out that the socialist market economy is essentially an economy ruled by law, a summary of the practical experience of China's socialist market economy for more than 30 years, and an accurate and clear definition of the essence of the socialist market economy.
Economy ruled by law is the objective law of modern market economy.
In the traditional farming era, the self-sufficient natural economy dominated, and there was little communication between people. The sound of chickens and dogs is endless, and the old and the dead are not in contact. It is typically closed and conservative. Although there is commodity production and commodity exchange, it only accounts for a small proportion in the whole national economy. Market mechanism is not the main mechanism of economic operation, so it is naturally impossible to talk about market economy. Although various dynasties in feudal society also enacted laws, they were more for the purpose of maintaining the natural order in feudal times, with the supremacy of power and serious characteristics of rule by man, and did not have the basic conditions of combining the rule of law with the market economy. In the period of highly centralized planned economy system in China, planning replaced everything, all aspects of social reproduction were covered by highly centralized planning, and the production, supply and marketing of people, property and residents' consumption were carried out in full accordance with the instructions. The planning mechanism not only replaces the market mechanism, but also replaces the law. Therefore, the traditional highly centralized planned economy system is neither a market economy nor an economy ruled by law, and it is impossible to realize the combination of the rule of law and the market economy.
From a global perspective, the development of market economy was after the eighteenth century. Examining the development history of market economy in various countries, especially in developed countries, it is not difficult to find that the development process of market economy is a process of continuous improvement of the rule of law. /kloc-After the 0/8th century, western countries entered the capitalist society one after another, and also entered the era of market economy dominated by free competition, replacing feudal autocracy. This is a historical progress, and it also requires legal means to protect competition and oppose feudal autocracy. However, with the establishment of market economy and the intensification of competition, the problem of disorderly competition has also emerged, and social contradictions have become prominent. The first economic crisis in the world occurred in Britain in 1825, and it has appeared every once in a while since then, showing a cyclical feature, and each crisis has seriously damaged the national economic and social development. Problems and solutions appear together. In order to overcome the increasing and aggravating economic and social problems brought by free competition, it is objectively required to formulate and promulgate a series of laws and regulations that are suitable for the market economy, so as to ensure equal competition in the market and stable operation of society.
Thus, the rule of law and the modern market economy came into being together, and the modern market economy called for and embraced the rule of law. It can be said that where the market economy develops, the rule of law needs to follow up; The depth of the development of market mechanism determines the degree of follow-up of the rule of law. A market economy without legal restraint and protection will inevitably fall into chaos. The market economy cannot be established if the laws are not perfect, the laws are not obeyed and the law enforcement is lax. In a sense, whether there is a sound rule of law is an important difference between modern market economy and early market economy.
The establishment of the socialist market economic system requires the realization of the rule of law economy.
To establish a socialist market economic system is to make the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, and to realize the rule of law economy. Because:
Under the condition of modern market economy, there are more and more market subjects, the results of market behavior and competition are more and more unpredictable, the market structure is more and more complicated, and the market competition is more and more fierce. It is even more necessary that all kinds of behaviors of market subjects are within the legal framework to ensure the orderly operation of the market economy and a more effective market mechanism. The market mechanism only provides the basic conditions for improving the efficiency of resource allocation, which does not mean that as long as the market economy is realized, it will definitely produce higher results. So many countries and regions in the world, except a few, have implemented market economy, but not all countries and regions have maximized the efficiency of resource allocation, and not all countries and regions have become developed countries. At present, not all socialist countries in the world are developing rapidly. There are many reasons, one of which is the lack of necessary laws, especially good laws, to effectively safeguard fair competition and stimulate the vitality of market players. Some countries even stifle competition. After the reform and opening up, the fundamental reason why China's national economy and social development have undergone earth-shaking changes is to choose the goal of socialist market economic system reform, protect market competition with laws, maintain the operation of market economy, and stimulate the vitality of market players.
The process of resource allocation is the process of benefit distribution and redistribution, which is the most complicated behavior of human society and needs legal protection. Throughout the development history of human society, thousands of years of slave society and feudal society, the fundamental reason for the continuous change of dynasties lies in the unfair distribution of interests, and behind the unfair distribution of interests is the unfair distribution of resources, especially the unfair distribution of land resources. In the capitalist society for hundreds of years, the reason for the continuous intensification of social contradictions is still the unfair distribution of interests, and the unfair distribution of capital, an important resource of modern economy, still plays a role behind it. The relative stability and prosperity of developed countries after World War II also lies in constantly adjusting the distribution of interests and realizing the relative fairness of resources, especially human capital. China is in the primary stage of socialism. In order to establish a perfect socialist market economic system, it is more necessary to allocate all kinds of resources fairly, justly and openly, and realize the distribution and redistribution of benefits more fairly. In the process of resource allocation, it is objectively required to be guaranteed by the rule of law.
The practice of reform and opening up in various countries, including China, has proved that the efficiency of market mechanism in allocating resources is higher than that of planned mechanism. Therefore, to deepen the reform of the economic system, the market must play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, which is a major decision made by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. However, the decisive role of the market in resource allocation is not unconditional, but requires a series of conditions, the most important of which is that the behavior of market participants is within the legal framework, and this law must be good rather than bad, which requires. Because in order to maximize the interests and realize their dominant position in the competition, some market participants will compete through fair competition, while others will compete through unfair competition, such as various forms of monopoly, production and operation of fake and shoddy goods and even deception, the result will inevitably harm other market participants or infringe on the interests of consumers. Objectively, the state is required to have corresponding laws and relevant systems to regulate the behavior of market players, safeguard fair competition, crack down on unfair competition and protect consumers' rights and interests. Judging from the actual situation in China, the pattern of simultaneous development of multiple ownership economies has been formed, which requires legal means to protect the equal competition of multiple ownership economies.
Under the condition of market economy, more and more market subjects will accumulate more and more property in various forms, which is not only the result of market competition, but also the premise and foundation for gaining competitive advantage in the next step. Objectively, it is required to establish a property right protection system with fairness as the core principle. Public property is inviolable, and so is non-public property. On the contrary, if property rights are not protected, market players will lose the value motivation of competition and fundamentally undermine fair competition.
From the perspective of market operation mechanism, the core of market economy is fair competition, that is, free and equal exchange. Without equivalent exchange, it is difficult for commodities to realize their intrinsic value, and it is also difficult for commodity operators to obtain their due profits, so commodity operators have no enthusiasm, initiative and creativity in production and operation. Therefore, commodity operators objectively require corresponding laws to guarantee their free, equal and independent exchange.
As can be seen from the above, in order to make the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, it is correspondingly required to formulate the legal system of socialist market economy. At present, many countries or regions have formulated a series of legal systems such as anti-monopoly law or anti-monopoly law, consumer protection law, price law and intellectual property protection law, all of which are aimed at protecting competition and maximizing the efficiency of resource allocation.
The intervention in economic behavior is carried out within the legal framework.
To establish a perfect socialist market economic system, not only should the market play a decisive role in resource allocation, but it also needs to play a better role, and the full play of the role needs legal norms, and macro-control behavior needs to be carried out within the legal framework.
The market has the function of optimizing resource allocation, but it is not omnipotent. The market itself has its insurmountable defects, such as unable to solve the monopoly problem, unable to effectively provide public goods, unable to prevent negative externalities, unable to maintain the stable growth of the national economy, unable to solve the widening income gap or even polarization, etc., which need to be remedied objectively. In particular, to achieve sustained, stable and healthy development of the national economy, we must constantly improve macro-control.
Whether it is to make up for market defects or to maintain the stable operation of the national economy, it is not realized automatically or arbitrarily, but needs to be realized through a series of institutional arrangements. Although the timing and intensity of macro-control can be achieved by choosing policies according to the camera, there are related laws such as finance, finance, social security and industry behind macro-control policies.
In short, the essence of the socialist market economy is the rule of law economy, which requires market participants to follow the laws of the market economy and become legally binding behaviors, to protect equal competition in the market by law to achieve Pareto optimization of resource allocation efficiency, to deal with various contradictions and conflicts in the process of market operation by legal means, to standardize the operation of the national economy under the legal framework, and to strictly protect the property rights of market participants from infringement, and so on.