Deeply Grasping the Humanistic Economic Implications of “Investing in People”

Humanistic economics is a major identifying concept and original proposition put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping in the practice of governance, profoundly revealing the deep logic of the interaction and integration of culture and economy in high-quality development. During the 2023 Two Sessions [1]1 The “Two Sessions” (两会) refers to the annual plenary meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held in March., when participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Up above there is heaven, down below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou; Suzhou and Hangzhou are both cities that have taken the lead in economic development. Places where culture is well-developed can still have their economies take the lead. One can study the humanistic economics in this.” [2]2 A classical Chinese saying from the Song Dynasty, “Up above there is heaven, down below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou,” praises the prosperity and beauty of these two cities. As China’s economy enters the stage of high-quality development, the driving force for growth is gradually shifting from factor-driven to innovation-driven. The subject and source of innovation are both people. In May 2023, at the first meeting of the 20th Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “closely combine ‘investing in things’ with ‘investing in people’.” “Investing in people” is not only an inevitable requirement for China’s economy to enter the stage of high-quality development, but also the core concern of humanistic economics, containing the scientific connotation and practical requirements of humanistic economics.

人文经济学是习近平总书记在治国理政实践中提出的重大标识性概念和原创性命题，深刻揭示了高质量发展中文化与经济交融互动的深层逻辑。2023年全国两会期间，习近平总书记在参加江苏代表团审议时指出：“上有天堂下有苏杭，苏杭都是在经济发展上走在前列的城市。文化很发达的地方，经济照样走在前面。可以研究一下这里面的人文经济学。”随着我国经济进入高质量发展阶段，增长动力逐渐由要素驱动转向创新驱动。创新的主体和源泉都是人。2023年5月，习近平总书记在二十届中央财经委员会第一次会议上强调，“把‘投资于物’同‘投资于人’紧密结合起来”。“投资于人”既是我国经济进入高质量发展阶段的必然要求，又是人文经济学的核心关切，蕴含着人文经济学的科学内涵和实践要求。

1. “Investing in People” That Adheres to a People-Centered Approach

1、坚持以人民为中心的“投资于人”

The people-oriented nature is the essential attribute of Marxism, and the people’s standpoint is the fundamental standpoint of Marxism. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Nowadays, there are all kinds of economic theories, but the only foundation of our political economy can be Marxist political economy, and not any other economic theory.” [3]3 A quotation from Xi Jinping’s speech at the economic work conference in December 2015. Humanistic economics fully absorbs the long-standing people-oriented thought in fine traditional Chinese culture, emphasizes taking a firm people’s standpoint, grasping the people’s aspirations, and respecting the people’s creativity, and unequivocally answers the fundamental question of “development for whom and development relying on whom.”

人民性是马克思主义的本质属性，人民立场是马克思主义的根本立场。习近平总书记强调：“现在，各种经济学理论五花八门，但我们政治经济学的根本只能是马克思主义政治经济学，而不能是别的什么经济理论。”人文经济学充分汲取中华优秀传统文化中源远流长的民本思想，强调站稳人民立场、把握人民愿望、尊重人民创造，旗帜鲜明地回答了“发展为了谁、发展依靠谁”的根本问题。

The knowledge system of Western economics follows the logic of capital and the standpoint of capital, where humanity is treated as an instrumental value and cultural decoration for economic development. In the capitalist mode of production, “investment” in “people” is a means to realize the multiplication of capital, treating laborers as pure “human capital” for investment. In China, the logical starting point of “investing in people” is “real people.” “People” are no longer abstract conceptual symbols, nor “beings dwelling outside the world,” [4]4 A paraphrase of a phrase from Marx’s “Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” referring to the abstract, non-social conception of the individual. but people in specific social relations with specific needs. Chinese-path modernization always focuses on “people,” achieving the internal unity of the subject of creation and the subject of value. This transcends the narrow nature of Western economics that simply pursues profit, breaks the paradox of “seeing profit but forgetting righteousness” and “seeing things but forgetting people,” making “investing in people” not only an economic strategy but also a humanistic care, concretized into each individual’s sense of gain, happiness, and security. The value orientation of “investing in people” is “people-centered.” In traditional investment models, investment often focuses on physical or virtual assets, and the evaluation criteria for investment are concentrated on quantitative indicators such as rate of return and rate of appreciation. Although this investment model can promote aggregate economic growth in the short term, it easily overlooks the real needs and value realization of individuals. The goal orientation of “investing in people” is “human development.” “Investing in people” emphasizes taking human development as an end in itself, always focusing on common prosperity and the comprehensive development of people. Its deep logic lies in achieving the historical unity of instrumental rationality and value rationality. For example, since achieving the 4% target for the first time in 2012, China’s education expenditure as a share of GDP has exceeded 4% for over a decade; during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the urban-rural income ratio narrowed from 2.56 in 2020 to 2.31 in 2025, the basic medical insurance participation rate stabilized above 95%, and the average life expectancy increased to 79.25 years. The development paradigm of “investing in people” is both a vivid interpretation of the people-centered development thought and a contemporary response to the Marxist theory of human emancipation.

西方经济学知识体系遵循的是资本逻辑和资本立场，人文被当作经济发展的工具价值和文化装饰。在资本主义生产方式中，对“人”的投资是实现资本增殖的手段，把劳动者作为纯粹的“人力资本”进行投资。在我国，“投资于人”的逻辑起点是“现实的人”。“人”不再是抽象的概念符号，也不是“蛰居于世界之外的存在物”，而是处于具体社会关系中、有具体需求的人。中国式现代化始终聚焦于“人”，实现了创造主体和价值主体的内在统一。这就超越了西方经济学单纯逐利的狭隘本性，打破了“见利忘义”“见物忘人”的悖论，使得“投资于人”不仅是一种经济策略，更是一种人文关怀，具体化为每一个生命个体的获得感、幸福感、安全感。“投资于人”的价值取向是“以人为本”。传统投资模式中，投资往往侧重于实物或虚拟资产，投资的评价标准集中于回报率、增值率等量化指标。这种投资模式虽然能在短期内推动经济总量增长，却容易忽视个体的真实需求和价值实现。“投资于人”的目标导向是“人的发展”。“投资于人”强调把人的发展作为目的本身，始终关注共同富裕与人的全面发展，其深层逻辑在于实现了工具理性与价值理性的历史性统一。例如，自2012年首次实现4%目标以来，我国教育经费支出占GDP比例连续十多年超过4%；“十四五”时期，城乡居民收入比由2020年的2.56缩小至2025年的2.31，基本医疗保险参保率稳定在95%以上，人均预期寿命提升至79.25岁。“投资于人”发展范式既是对以人民为中心的发展思想的生动诠释，也是对马克思主义关于人的解放学说的当代回应。

2. “Investing in People” That Promotes the Common Prosperity of Economy and Culture

2、推动经济与文化共同繁荣的“投资于人”

During his work in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping already proposed that “the so-called cultural economy is a general term for the economization of culture and the culturalization of the economy; its essence is the interaction, integration, and integrated development of culture and economy.” [5]5 A reference to Xi Jinping’s work as Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province (2002-2007), where he promoted the concept of “cultural economy.” Culture and economy are like two wheels of the development of human society; the economy lays the material foundation for development, while culture provides the value orientation and spiritual driving force for development. Humanistic economics emphasizes following both the laws of economic development and the laws of cultural development. Currently, the prosperity of the humanistic economy is a vivid practice of the mutual integration, mutual promotion, and mutual enhancement of culture and economy.

习近平同志在浙江工作期间就提出，“所谓文化经济是对文化经济化和经济文化化的统称，其实质是文化与经济的交融互动、融合发展”。文化和经济好比人类社会发展的两个车轮，经济奠定发展的物质基础，文化提供发展的价值导向和精神动力。人文经济学强调既要遵循经济发展的规律，又要遵循文化发展的规律。当前，人文经济的繁荣就是文化与经济相互交融、相互促进、相得益彰的生动实践。

“Investing in people” requires achieving the common prosperity of economy and humanity while promoting economic and social development. “Investing in people” is relative to “investing in things,” but it does not mean abandoning “investing in things.” Closely combining “investing in things” with “investing in people” is a key path to promoting high-quality development of China’s economy. “Investing in people” organically unifies material abundance and spiritual enrichment, wealth growth and cultural nourishment, striving to realize the cultivation and growth of people’s essential forces. Materiality is the “primary nature” for us to understand, explain, and transform the world; “the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life.” [6]6 A direct quotation from Marx’s “Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.” Investment and accumulation in things are the prerequisite guarantee for economic and social development, ultimately aimed at realizing human development. “Investing in people” anchors new goals and directions for “investing in things,” sets up “traffic lights” for capital, and guides the adjustment of investment direction and the optimization of investment structure, preventing the barbaric growth and disorderly expansion of capital. Investing in people with greater intensity and serving the people means: in terms of material needs, maintaining the total amount and growth rate of material foundation investments such as fixed asset investment at a certain level, precisely grasping the fields and directions of investment, further promoting consumption upgrading and industrial transformation, using strategic emerging industries and future industries as a guide, concentrating “thing” investment in high-end, intelligent, and green industries, forming a solid foundation to support innovative development, and meeting the people’s aspirations for a better life with high-quality supply; in terms of spiritual needs, increasing investment in fields such as education, science and technology, and culture, striving to build a public cultural service system that covers urban and rural areas and is convenient and efficient, continuously enriching people’s spiritual and cultural life, meeting their higher-order needs for knowledge, aesthetics, and creativity, enhancing their cultural literacy and innovation capacity, and promoting the integration, symbiosis, and common prosperity of economy and culture.

“投资于人”要求在推动经济社会发展的同时，实现经济与人文的共同繁荣。“投资于人”是相对于“投资于物”而言的，却并非摒弃“投资于物”。把“投资于物”同“投资于人”紧密结合起来，是推动中国经济高质量发展的关键路径。“投资于人”把物质丰裕与精神富足、财富增长与文化滋养有机统一起来，努力实现人的本质力量的培育与增长。物质性是我们认识、解释和改造世界的“第一性”，“物质生活的生产方式制约着整个社会生活、政治生活和精神生活的过程”。物的投入与积累，是经济社会发展的前提保障，最终是为了实现人的发展。“投资于人”为“投资于物”锚定新的目标和方向，为资本设置“红绿灯”，引领投资方向的调整和投资结构的优化，防止资本的野蛮生长和无序扩张。以更大力度投资于人、服务于民意味着：在物质需要方面，保持固定资产投资等物质基础投入的总量和增速维持在一定水平，精准把握投资领域和方向，进一步推动消费升级与产业转型，以战略性新兴产业和未来产业发展为牵引，推动“物”的投入向高端化、智能化、绿色化产业集中，形成支撑创新发展的坚实基础，以高质量供给满足人民对美好生活的向往；在精神需要方面，加大在教育、科技和文化等领域的投入力度，着力构建覆盖城乡、便捷高效的公共文化服务体系，持续丰富人们的精神文化生活，满足其在求知、审美和创造等方面的高阶需要，提升其文化素养和创新能力，促进经济与文化交融共生、共同繁荣。

3. “Investing in People” That Empowers Economic and Social Development through Culture

3、以文化赋能经济社会发展的“投资于人”

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “culture is an important fulcrum for promoting high-quality development” and that “to meet common challenges and move towards a better future, we need not only economic, scientific, and technological strength, but also cultural and civilizational strength.” [7]7 Quotations from Xi Jinping’s speeches at the National Conference on Propaganda and Ideology Work in 2018 and the Conference on Cultural Heritage and Cultural Exchange in 2019, respectively. From the perspective of humanistic economics, the economic development of a country or a region must be due to the existence of a humanistic environment conducive to its economic development, with unique humanistic genes providing spiritual nourishment for social individuals.

习近平总书记强调，“推动高质量发展，文化是重要支点”，“应对共同挑战、迈向美好未来，既需要经济科技力量，也需要文化文明力量”。在人文经济学视域下，一国或一地之经济的发展，一定是因为存在有利于其经济发展的人文环境，有独特的人文基因为社会个体提供精神滋养。

People are, in essence, cultural beings, not “reified” beings. The comprehensive development of people cannot be separated from cultural shaping; investment that detaches from the cultural dimension can only enhance technical skills but cannot stimulate endogenous motivation and value consciousness. Investing in culture is the deep-level pathway of “investing in people.” Through the integration of culture, it transcends the material orientation of traditional economic growth, deeply integrating humanistic care and cultural elements into economic forces, thereby forming cultural soft power. First, culture endows economic development with profound humanistic value. Traditional economics usually focuses more on GDP figures, whereas humanistic economics emphasizes seeing “people” through the data, taking people’s spiritual enrichment and comprehensive development as the fundamental goal, and avoiding treating people as cold resource factors. As a deep spiritual force, culture provides a spiritual core for economic development, uses the core socialist values to build consensus, and through people’s creative practical activities, gives economic activities moral support, providing value orientation and sustained momentum for economic development. Second, culture endows economic development with higher organizational efficiency. Economic development requires solid and broad-based power support, among which the supporting role of culture has special significance. Culture influences social consciousness, market behavior, innovation models, and other factors closely related to economic development, thereby affecting the actual effectiveness of economic development. Value concepts such as advocating integrity, seeking profit through righteousness, the spirit of contract, respect for property rights, and win-win cooperation can not only regulate the order of the economic process itself but also stabilize market expectations, reduce transaction costs, strengthen property rights protection, and ensure economic efficiency through consensus norms like ethics and morality. Third, culture endows economic development with stronger competitiveness. People are the most active factor in productive forces. Once advanced culture combines with the most active factor in productive forces, the quality of the labor force will be greatly improved, the breadth and depth of the objects of labor will be expanded, and humanity’s ability and quantity to transform nature and obtain wealth will increase geometrically. At the same time, cultural prosperity can enrich the depth of economic development and inject “humanistic resilience” into economic development. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the digitalization of culture and the culturalization of digital technology are advancing deeply, triggering tremendous changes in China’s cultural production field and promoting an overall leap in the level of economic development.

人，本质上就是文化的人，而不是“物化”的人。人的全面发展离不开文化塑造，脱离文化维度的投入仅能提升技术和技能，却无法激发内生动力与价值自觉。投资于文化是“投资于人”的深层路径，通过文化的融入，超越传统经济增长的物质导向，将人文关怀和文化要素深度融入经济力量之中，形成文化软实力。一是文化赋予经济发展深厚的人文价值。传统经济学通常更关注GDP数字，人文经济学则强调穿透数据而“见人”，把人的精神富有和全面发展作为根本目标，避免把人当成冰冷的资源要素。文化作为一种深层的精神力量，为经济发展提供精神内核，用社会主义核心价值观凝聚共识，通过人的创造性实践活动，让经济活动有道义支撑，为经济发展提供价值导向和持续动能。二是文化赋予经济发展更高的组织效能。经济发展需要坚实而广泛的动力支持，其中，文化的支撑作用具有特殊的意义。文化影响着人类的社会意识、市场行为、创新模式等与经济发展息息相关的要素，进而影响经济发展的实际成效。崇尚诚信、以义取利、契约精神、尊重产权、合作共赢等价值理念既能对经济过程本身产生秩序规范作用，又能以伦理道德等共识性准则稳定市场预期、降低交易成本、加强产权保护、保障经济效能。三是文化赋予经济发展更强的竞争力。人是生产力中最活跃的因素。先进文化与生产力中最活跃的因素一旦结合，劳动力素质会极大提高，劳动对象的广度和深度得以拓展，人类改造自然、取得财富的能力与数量会呈几何级数增长。同时，文化的繁荣可以丰富经济发展的纵深，为经济发展注入“人文韧性”。随着人工智能技术的快速发展，文化数字化与数字文化化深入推进，引发我国文化生产领域的巨大变革，推动经济发展水平的整体跃升。

4. Committed to “Investing in People” for the Free and Comprehensive Development of People

4、致力于实现人的自由全面发展的“投资于人”

The essence of modernization is the modernization of people, and the ultimate goal of modernization is to realize people’s free and comprehensive development. Humanistic economics and the people-centered development thought have both an inherent compatibility and mutual support in theoretical logic and practical pathways, jointly pointing to people’s value, needs, and development, enabling all the people to achieve free and comprehensive development through joint contribution and shared benefits.

现代化的本质是人的现代化，现代化的最终目标是实现人自由而全面的发展。人文经济学与坚持以人民为中心的发展思想既有内在契合性，又在理论逻辑和实践路径上相互支撑，共同指向人的价值、需求和发展，使全体人民在共建共享中实现自由而全面的发展。

“Investing in people” from the perspective of humanistic economics focuses not only on the “hard power” investment in human capital but also on the “soft power” construction of the humanistic environment, committed to realizing the modernization of “people.” Therefore, the series of measures for “investing in people” fully attend to people’s multi-dimensional needs, taking the people’s aspiration for a better life as the starting point and落脚点 [8]8 The Chinese phrase “落脚点” (luòjiǎo diǎn) literally means “foothold” or “point of landing,” and in political discourse it is used figuratively to mean the ultimate goal or the point at which something is realized. of economic development. “Investing in people” injects strong momentum into achieving common prosperity. For example, it focuses on precise policy implementation across the entire educational stage and the entire life cycle, using educational equity to solidify the foundation of common prosperity; expands the coverage of social insurance, promotes the extension of social security services to the grassroots level, and weaves a tight safety net for common prosperity; improves the social welfare and public service system that meets the actual needs of people’s livelihoods, and consolidates the supporting points of common prosperity. “Investing in people” provides nourishment for enriching people’s spiritual world. By promoting the equalization of basic public services, it breaks down structural barriers to accessing spiritual and cultural products; cultivates and promotes the core socialist values, promotes the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture, expands the space for people’s spiritual life, and provides practical conditions for value shaping, aesthetic cultivation, and the formation of civic consciousness. In addition, “investing in people” is committed to统筹推进 [9]9 The Chinese phrase “统筹推进” (tǒngchóu tuījìn) means “to coordinate and advance” or “to make comprehensive and coordinated progress.” the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent. It not only focuses on enhancing the professional competence and comprehensive quality of talent but also on stimulating their innovative spirit, critical thinking, cooperative awareness, and sense of social responsibility. This dual development logic, which values both comprehensive ability cultivation and spiritual world construction, enables people, in the process of participating in economic and social activities, to possess the value consciousness to understand the world and care for others, and a high-quality spiritual world that pursues truth, goodness, and beauty. “Investing in people” provides innovative pathways for improving social governance models. “Investing in people” emphasizes improving the social work system, mechanisms, and the system of social governance policies, laws, and regulations; highlights the strengthening of Party building in new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups; and continuously enhances the Party’s appeal, cohesion, and influence in emerging fields. It emphasizes further expanding the coverage of social security; through full-coverage basic-needs guarantees, full-life-cycle care services, and all-round rights and interests protection, it coordinates risk prevention and control, resource allocation, and governance synergy; and improves a multi-tiered social security system that covers all people, coordinates urban and rural areas, is fair and unified, safe and standardized, and sustainable. It continues to deepen the reform of the social security system; through an institutional design that equally emphasizes “guaranteeing the bottom line” and “lifting up,” it both stimulates individual creative vitality and fortifies risk defenses, effectively achieving the organic unity of efficiency and fairness, and promoting the construction of a social governance community where everyone has responsibility, everyone fulfills their duty, and everyone enjoys the benefits.

人文经济学视域下的“投资于人”既注重人力资本的“硬实力”投入，又注重人文环境的“软实力”建设，致力于实现“人”的现代化。因此，“投资于人”的系列举措充分关注人的多向度需求，将人民群众对美好生活的向往作为经济发展的出发点和落脚点。“投资于人”为实现共同富裕注入强劲动力。如，聚焦全学段、全周期精准施策，以教育公平筑牢共同富裕根基；扩大社会保险覆盖面，推动社保服务向基层延伸，织密共同富裕安全网；完善贴合民生实际需求的社会福利和公共服务体系，夯实共同富裕支撑点。“投资于人”为丰富人民精神世界提供滋养。通过推动基本公共服务均等化，打破获取精神文化产品的结构性壁垒；培育和弘扬社会主义核心价值观，推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展，拓展人民群众精神生活空间，为价值塑造、审美培育和公民意识养成提供现实条件。此外，“投资于人”致力于统筹推进教育、科技、人才一体化发展，不仅注重提升人才的专业素养、综合素质，更注重激发其创新精神、批判思维、合作意识与社会责任感。这一既重视综合能力培养又重视精神世界建设的双重发展逻辑，使人在参与经济社会活动的过程中，拥有理解世界、关怀他人的价值自觉和追求真善美的高质量精神世界。“投资于人”为完善社会治理模式提供创新路径。“投资于人”强调健全社会工作体制机制和社会治理政策法律法规体系，突出抓好新经济组织、新社会组织、新就业群体党的建设，不断增强党在新兴领域的号召力凝聚力影响力；强调进一步扩大社会保障覆盖面，通过全覆盖兜底保障、全生命周期关爱服务、全方位权益保障，统筹风险防控、资源配置与治理协同，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；持续深化社会保障制度改革，通过“兜底”与“托举”并重的制度设计，既激发个体创造活力，又筑牢风险防线，有效实现效率与公平的有机统一，推动建设人人有责、人人尽责、人人享有的社会治理共同体。

(Authors: Zhang Xiaojing and Liu Jianjun are, respectively, a specially appointed researcher of the Anhui Provincial Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Deputy Dean of the School of Literature, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, and a professor at the School of Marxism Studies, Renmin University of China.)

（作者：张晓婧、刘建军，分别系安徽省中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心特约研究员、安徽财经大学文学院副院长，中国人民大学马克思主义学院教授）