Better Achieving the Balance, Mutual Promotion, and Unity of Efficiency and Fairness

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC pointed out, “Adhere to a systems perspective and properly handle major relationships such as those between the economy and society, the government and the market, efficiency and fairness, vitality and order, and development and security.” [1]1 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC: A major meeting of the Chinese Communist Party held in July 2024, focused on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese-path modernization. The communiqué issued by the session outlines the guiding principles and major reform tasks for the period ahead. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Chinese-path modernization must not only create higher efficiency than capitalism, but also more effectively safeguard social fairness, better achieving the balance, mutual promotion, and unity of efficiency and fairness.” To further deepen reform comprehensively and advance Chinese-path modernization, it is necessary to properly handle the relationship between efficiency and fairness, continuously enhancing the balance, coordination, and inclusiveness of development.

党的二十届三中全会指出，“坚持系统观念，处理好经济和社会、政府和市场、效率和公平、活力和秩序、发展和安全等重大关系”。习近平总书记强调：“中国式现代化既要创造比资本主义更高的效率，又要更有效地维护社会公平，更好实现效率与公平相兼顾、相促进、相统一。”进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化，必须处理好效率与公平的关系，不断提升发展的平衡性、协调性、包容性。

Deepen institutional reform, laying a solid institutional foundation for balancing efficiency and fairness. Efficiency and fairness are among the key issues in the development of human history; their relationship directly affects social stability and development, and the contradictory movement between them also drives the continuous progress of society. Properly handling the relationship between efficiency and fairness has always been a complex challenge that comprehensive deepening of reform must strive to solve; whether this relationship can be handled well directly concerns the process and success or failure of reform. The 18th National Congress of the CPC proposed that “both primary distribution and redistribution should balance efficiency and fairness, with redistribution placing greater emphasis on fairness.” [2]2 The 18th National Congress of the CPC: The Party congress held in November 2012, which marked the beginning of the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of Xi Jinping. The 19th National Congress of the CPC emphasized “striving to achieve higher quality, more efficient, fairer, and more sustainable development.” [3]3 The 19th National Congress of the CPC: The Party congress held in October 2017, which formally established Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guiding ideology of the Party. At the opening ceremony of a study seminar for leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial level on the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping further proposed “better achieving the balance, mutual promotion, and unity of efficiency and fairness.” [4]4 The 20th National Congress of the CPC: The Party congress held in October 2022, which set the strategic goals and tasks for the next five years and beyond, including advancing Chinese-path modernization. Among these, “balance” reflects the need for both economic development and social fairness, without neglecting one for the other; “mutual promotion” means that fairness should take efficiency as its premise and foundation, using efficiency to promote fairness, while efficiency should take fairness as its purpose and driving force, using fairness to promote efficiency; “unity” requires achieving an organic combination of efficiency and fairness, steadily advancing Chinese-path modernization. In essence, comprehensively deepening reform means breaking down institutional and mechanistic barriers that constrain the development of productive forces, improving the efficiency of economic development, while simultaneously solving the problem of unfairness in the economic development process. The series of major reform measures proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC provides important guidance for us to better coordinate efficiency and fairness under new historical conditions. To further deepen reform comprehensively, we must take promoting social fairness and justice and enhancing the well-being of the people as the starting point and ultimate goal.

深化制度改革，为兼顾效率与公平筑牢坚实的制度基础。效率与公平是人类历史发展中的关键问题之一，两者的关系直接影响社会稳定与发展，两者的矛盾运动也推动着社会的持续进步。处理好效率与公平的关系，始终是全面深化改革要着力解决的一道复杂难题，能否处理好这对关系，直接关系到改革的进程与成败。党的十八大提出“初次分配和再分配都要兼顾效率和公平，再分配更加注重公平”。党的十九大强调要“努力实现更高质量、更有效率、更加公平、更可持续的发展”。习近平总书记在学习贯彻党的二十大精神研讨班开班式上进一步提出“更好实现效率与公平相兼顾、相促进、相统一”。其中，“相兼顾”体现了既要经济发展，也要社会公平，不能顾此失彼；“相促进”，即公平应以效率为前提和基础，以效率促进公平，效率又要以公平为目的和动力，以公平促进效率；“相统一”要求实现效率与公平的有机结合，推动中国式现代化稳步前行。全面深化改革实质上就是要打破束缚生产力发展的体制机制障碍，提高经济发展的效率，同时要解决好经济发展过程中的不公平问题。党的二十届三中全会提出的一系列重大改革举措，为我们在新的历史条件下更好统筹效率与公平提供了重要指南。进一步全面深化改革，必须以促进社会公平正义、增进人民福祉为出发点和落脚点。

Promote high-quality development, laying a strong material foundation for coordinating efficiency and fairness. Productive forces are the decisive force and source of power for creating social wealth and continuously advancing human civilization. Development is the eternal theme of human society and the master key to solving all problems. High-quality development can lay a solid material foundation for properly handling the relationship between efficiency and fairness. In fact, high-quality development itself contains the goal of the coordinated development of efficiency and fairness. Achieving high-quality development means combining “making the cake bigger” with “distributing the cake well,” realizing the organic unity of efficiency and fairness. From the perspective of efficiency, promoting high-quality development means promoting changes in the quality, efficiency, and driving forces of economic development, improving total factor productivity, and continuously enhancing the innovation and competitiveness of our economy. From the perspective of fairness, promoting high-quality development must focus on solving the problem of relatively large income distribution gaps, adjusting the pattern of national income distribution, so that the fruits of development benefit all the people more and more fairly. This is not only conducive to stimulating the enthusiasm of various production factors, especially laborers, and expanding the middle-income group, but also conducive to enhancing the purchasing power of the whole society, creating a larger-scale market, and promoting more efficient, fairer, higher quality, and more sustainable economic development. We must always firmly grasp the hard truth of high-quality development, use Chinese-path modernization to promote the coordinated development of all aspects of our economy and society, and provide material support for coordinating efficiency and fairness.

推动高质量发展，为统筹效率与公平奠定强大的物质基础。生产力是创造社会财富和推动人类文明不断向前发展的决定力量和动力源泉。发展是人类社会的永恒主题，是解决一切问题的总钥匙。高质量发展能够为处理好效率与公平的关系奠定雄厚的物质基础。事实上，高质量发展本身就蕴含着效率与公平协调发展的目标。实现高质量发展就是要把“做大蛋糕”和“分好蛋糕”结合起来，实现效率与公平的有机统一。从效率的角度看，推动高质量发展就是推动经济发展质量变革、效率变革、动力变革，提高全要素生产率，不断增强我国经济创新力和竞争力。从公平的角度看，推动高质量发展必须着力解决收入分配差距较大的问题，调整国民收入分配格局，使发展成果更多更公平惠及全体人民。这样不仅有利于激发各种生产要素特别是劳动者的积极性，扩大中等收入群体，而且有利于提升全社会购买力，创造更大规模市场，推动经济更有效率、更加公平、更高质量、更可持续发展。我们必须始终牢牢把握高质量发展这个硬道理，以中国式现代化推动我国经济社会各方面协调发展，为统筹效率与公平提供物质支撑。

Continuously seek the optimal balance point between efficiency and fairness in the process of solidly promoting common prosperity. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Common prosperity is a basic goal of Marxism and also a basic ideal of the Chinese people since ancient times.” As a Marxist governing party, our Party always remembers its original aspiration and founding mission, coordinates efficiency and fairness in development, and regards achieving common prosperity for all the people as an important goal of the Party’s struggle. Common prosperity emphasizes paying more attention to social fairness while improving economic efficiency, ensuring that the fruits of economic development can benefit all the people more fairly. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has profoundly grasped the new changes in the stage of our country’s economic and social development, placed the gradual realization of common prosperity for all the people in a more important position, and taken strong measures to ensure and improve people’s livelihoods, fully demonstrating the Party’s firm determination to write a new chapter of balancing, mutually promoting, and unifying efficiency and fairness in the New Era. The Party strives to solve livelihood issues such as employment, education, healthcare, and medical services, improve the basic public service system, raise the level of public services, and enhance their balance and accessibility. It increases the share of household income in the distribution of national income, increases the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution, encourages prosperity through hard work, promotes equality of opportunity, increases the income of low-income groups, expands the scale of the middle-income group, regulates the order of income distribution, regulates the wealth accumulation mechanism, protects lawful income, reasonably regulates excessively high incomes, and guides and supports enterprises, social organizations, and individuals with the willingness and ability to actively participate in public charity and welfare. It improves the employment priority policy, perfects the mechanism for promoting high-quality and full employment, coordinates the urban and rural employment policy system, removes institutional and policy obstacles hindering the flow of labor and talent, and eliminates unreasonable restrictions and employment discrimination affecting equal employment, so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve self-development through diligent labor. It continuously improves the multi-level social security system covering the entire population, coordinating urban and rural areas, ensuring fairness and uniformity, safety and standardization, and sustainability, perfects the national pooling system for basic old-age insurance, and develops a multi-level, multi-pillar old-age insurance system. In terms of improving efficiency, it promotes scientific and technological innovation, focuses on digital empowerment, implements distribution policies oriented towards the value of knowledge, resolutely breaks down various forms of local protectionism, opposes monopolies, and guides the orderly development of capital. Handling the relationship between efficiency and fairness requires calculating the big picture, the long term, the overall situation, and the comprehensive account. Systematic institutional integration and innovation should be carried out around the issue of common prosperity, constructing a coordinated and supporting institutional system for primary distribution, redistribution, and tertiary distribution, continuously seeking the optimal balance point between efficiency and fairness, and achieving the long-term development of the economy and the harmony and stability of society.

在扎实推进共同富裕的过程中不断寻找效率与公平的最佳平衡点。习近平总书记指出：“共同富裕，是马克思主义的一个基本目标，也是自古以来我国人民的一个基本理想。”作为马克思主义执政党，我们党始终牢记初心使命，在发展中统筹效率与公平，把实现全体人民共同富裕作为党的重要奋斗目标。共同富裕强调在提高经济效率的同时更加注重社会的公平性，确保经济发展的成果能够更加公平地惠及全体人民。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央深刻把握我国经济社会发展阶段的新变化，把逐步实现全体人民共同富裕摆在更加重要的位置上，采取有力措施保障和改善民生，充分彰显了我们党谱写新时代效率与公平相兼顾、相促进、相统一新篇章的坚强决心。党着力解决就业、教育、医疗卫生等民生问题，健全基本公共服务体系，提高公共服务水平，增强均衡性和可及性。提高居民收入在国民收入分配中的比重，提高劳动报酬在初次分配中的比重，鼓励勤劳致富，促进机会公平，增加低收入群体收入，扩大中等收入群体规模，规范收入分配秩序，规范财富积累机制，保护合法收入，合理调节过高收入，引导、支持有意愿有能力的企业、社会组织和个人积极参与公益慈善事业。完善就业优先政策，健全高质量充分就业促进机制，统筹城乡就业政策体系，破除妨碍劳动力、人才流动的体制和政策弊端，消除影响平等就业的不合理限制和就业歧视，使人人都有通过勤奋劳动实现自身发展的机会。不断健全覆盖全民、统筹城乡、公平统一、安全规范、可持续的多层次社会保障体系，完善基本养老保险全国统筹制度，发展多层次、多支柱养老保险体系。在提升效率方面，推动科技创新，注重数字化赋能，实施以知识价值为导向的分配政策，坚决破除各种形式的地方保护主义，反对垄断，引导资本有序发展。处理好效率与公平二者的关系，要算大账、长远账、整体账、综合账。应围绕共同富裕问题进行系统性的制度集成创新，构建初次分配、再分配、第三次分配协调配套的制度体系，不断寻找效率与公平的最佳平衡点，实现经济的长远发展与社会的和谐稳定。

In summary, efficiency is the material prerequisite for fairness, and fairness is a powerful guarantee for efficiency; the two promote and complement each other. On the great journey of the New Era, it is necessary to properly handle the relationship between efficiency and fairness, achieving overall planning and organic integration, allowing all sources of social wealth to flow fully, allowing the fruits of modernization to benefit all the people more and more fairly, and fully demonstrating the distinctive features and unique advantages of Chinese-path modernization.

要言之，效率是公平的物质前提，公平是效率的有力保障，两者相互促进、相辅相成。在新时代的伟大征程中，要处理好效率与公平的关系，做到统筹兼顾、有机结合，让一切创造社会财富的源泉充分涌流，让现代化建设成果更多更公平惠及全体人民，充分彰显中国式现代化的鲜明特色和独特优势。

Online Editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗