Strengthening the Fundamental Role of Consumption in Economic Development

Domestic demand is the basic driving force of economic development, and expanding consumption is an inevitable requirement for meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed: “We will work to expand domestic demand and strengthen the fundamental role of consumption in economic development.” This is both an important deployment for accelerating the creation of a new pattern of development and promoting high-quality development, and an important measure under the current situation to actively respond to shrinking demand and promote healthy economic development. To implement this important deployment, we need to further deepen our understanding of its rich connotations and significance.

内需是经济发展的基本动力，扩大消费是满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要的必然要求。党的二十大报告提出：“着力扩大内需，增强消费对经济发展的基础性作用”。这既是加快构建新发展格局、推动高质量发展的重要部署，又是当前形势下积极应对需求收缩、推动经济健康发展的重要举措。贯彻落实这一重要部署，需要进一步深化对其丰富内涵和重要意义的认识。

Deeply Understanding the Dialectical Relationship between Production and Consumption

深入理解生产和消费的辩证关系

In the “Introduction” to *A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy*, Marx revealed the dialectical relationship of mutual dependence and interaction between production and consumption. Regarding the role of production on consumption, Marx pointed out: “Without production, there is no consumption”; “Production not only creates the object for consumption. It also gives consumption its determinateness, its character, so that consumption is completed”; “Production produces the need in the consumer through the product it initially posits as an object. Hence it produces the object of consumption, the mode of consumption, and the motive for consumption.” Regarding the role of consumption on production, Marx pointed out: “Without consumption, there is no production, because without consumption, production has no purpose.” This is mainly reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, “The product only becomes a real product through consumption”; “The product is only finally completed in consumption”; on the other hand, “Consumption creates the need for new production, and thus creates the conceptual, internal motive for production, which is the prerequisite for production”; “Consumption posits the object of production conceptually, as an inner image, as a need, as a motive and as a purpose.” Marx’s exposition on the mutual relationship between production and consumption is summarized from the practice of human society, is a general economic law applicable to various social forms, and provides theoretical guidance for us to fully leverage the fundamental role of consumption in economic development.

马克思在《〈政治经济学批判〉导言》中揭示了生产和消费相互依存、相互作用的辩证关系。关于生产对消费的作用，马克思指出：“没有生产，就没有消费”“生产为消费创造的不只是对象。它也给予消费以消费的规定性、消费的性质，使消费得以完成”“生产通过它起初当作对象生产出来的产品在消费者身上引起需要。因而，它生产出消费的对象、消费的方式和消费的动力”。关于消费对生产的作用，马克思指出：“没有消费，也就没有生产，因为如果没有消费，生产就没有目的。”这主要体现在两个方面：一方面，“产品只是在消费中才成为现实的产品”“产品在消费中才得到最后完成”；另一方面，“消费创造出新的生产的需要，因而创造出生产的观念上的内在动机，后者是生产的前提”“消费在观念上提出生产的对象，把它作为内心的图象、作为需要、作为动力和目的提出来”。马克思关于生产和消费相互关系的论述，是从人类社会实践中总结出来的，是适应于各种社会形态的一般经济规律，为我们充分发挥消费对经济发展的基础性作用提供了理论指导。

In leading and promoting socialist modernization, our Party has accumulated rich experience in using the dialectical relationship between production and consumption to promote economic and social development. The most important of these is taking the development of productive forces as the fundamental task; and taking the adaptation to changes in the people’s needs, the diligent management of various livelihood undertakings, and the improvement of the people’s standard of living as the fundamental purpose of socialist production. This is an important reason for China’s rapid development and great success. The correct grasp and application of the dialectical relationship between production and consumption is also reflected in our Party’s judgment and resolution of the principal contradiction in Chinese society. For example, in 1956, the Eighth National Congress of the CPC, based on the situation after the basic completion of the socialist transformation of China, proposed that the domestic principal contradiction “is already the contradiction between the people’s demand for building an advanced industrial country and the reality of a backward agricultural country, and the contradiction between the people’s need for rapid economic and cultural development and the current situation where economic and culture cannot meet the people’s needs.” [1]1 The Eighth National Congress of the CPC was held in 1956. The “socialist transformation” refers to the nationalization of private industry and commerce and the collectivization of agriculture, largely completed by 1956. In 1981, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC, summarizing positive and negative historical experiences and based on a correct understanding of China’s basic national conditions and stage of development, proposed that “the principal contradiction China needs to resolve is the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing material and cultural needs and backward social production.” [2]2 The Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee was held in 1981. It adopted the “Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China,” which provided a formal assessment of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. It is precisely based on the correct judgment and resolution of the principal contradiction in Chinese society that the Party has led the people to create the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. [3]3 The “two miracles” is a standard Party formulation referring to China’s rapid economic growth and sustained social stability since reform and opening up. As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core made the major political judgment that “the principal contradiction in Chinese society has been transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development,” and closely centered on this principal contradiction to advance all work, leading to historic achievements and historic changes in the cause of the Party and the state. This enlightens us that mastering and applying the general law of the dialectical relationship between production and consumption remains of great significance for doing a good job in current economic work.

我们党在领导和推动社会主义现代化建设中，积累了运用生产和消费的辩证关系促进经济社会发展的丰富经验。其中最重要的，就是把发展生产力作为根本任务；把适应人民群众需求变化，努力办好各项民生事业，让老百姓的日子越过越好作为社会主义生产的根本目的。这是我国快速发展、取得巨大成功的重要原因。对于生产和消费辩证关系的正确把握和运用，也体现在我们党对我国社会主要矛盾的判断和解决上。比如，1956年，党的八大根据我国社会主义改造基本完成后的形势，提出国内的主要矛盾“已经是人民对于建立先进的工业国的要求同落后的农业国的现实之间的矛盾，已经是人民对于经济文化迅速发展的需要同当前经济文化不能满足人民需要的状况之间的矛盾”。1981年，党的十一届六中全会总结正反两方面的历史经验，在正确认识我国基本国情和发展阶段的基础上，提出“我国所要解决的主要矛盾，是人民日益增长的物质文化需要同落后的社会生产之间的矛盾”。正是基于对我国社会主要矛盾的正确判断和解决，党领导人民创造了经济快速发展和社会长期稳定两大奇迹。中国特色社会主义进入新时代，以习近平同志为核心的党中央作出“我国社会主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾”的重大政治论断，并紧紧围绕这个社会主要矛盾推进各项工作，党和国家事业取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革。这启示我们，掌握并运用好关于生产和消费辩证关系的一般规律，对于做好当前经济工作依然具有重要意义。

Expanding Consumption is an Inherent Requirement for Accelerating the Creation of a New Pattern of Development

扩大消费是加快构建新发展格局的内在要求

Accelerating the creation of a new pattern of development with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other is a strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, based on changes in China’s development stage, development environment, and development conditions, and grounded in achieving the Second Centenary Goal and coordinating development and security. [4]4 The Second Centenary Goal is the goal of building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the 21st century (around 2049). It is a strategic deployment to grasp the initiative in future development. Expanding consumption is an inherent requirement for creating a new pattern of development.

加快构建以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局，是以习近平同志为核心的党中央根据我国发展阶段、发展环境、发展条件的变化，立足实现第二个百年奋斗目标、统筹发展和安全作出的战略决策，是把握未来发展主动权的战略部署。扩大消费是构建新发展格局的内在要求。

Expanding consumption is an inevitable choice for responding to the profound changes in the international environment. Currently, changes unseen in a century are accelerating, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, and the pattern of international trade and industrial division of labor is undergoing major adjustments. After the 2008 international financial crisis, the world economy fell into sustained downturn, trade protectionism in major Western countries rose, and the momentum of the international economic cycle weakened. In recent years, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been extensive and profound, the trend of deglobalization has intensified, global industrial and supply chains have been impacted, and security risks have increased. Under these circumstances, the foothold of development must be placed domestically, relying more on the domestic market to achieve economic development, and effectively responding to external risks and challenges with one’s own stable development. China has a population of over 1.4 billion, its per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is close to the threshold for high-income countries, and the size of its middle-income group exceeds 400 million people, making it the world’s largest and most promising consumer market. At the same time, there is still a considerable gap between China’s per capita consumption level and that of developed countries. By continuously increasing the proportion of residents’ disposable income in GDP, China still has great space for expanding consumption.

扩大消费是应对国际环境深刻变化的必然选择。当前，世界百年未有之大变局加速演进，新一轮科技革命和产业变革深入发展，国际贸易和产业分工格局发生重大调整。2008年国际金融危机以后，世界经济陷入持续低迷，西方主要国家贸易保护主义抬头，国际经济大循环动能减弱。近几年，新冠疫情影响广泛深远，逆全球化趋势加剧，全球产业链、供应链受到冲击，安全风险增加。在这种情况下，必须把发展立足点放在国内，更多依靠国内市场实现经济发展，以自身的稳定发展有效应对外部风险挑战。我国拥有14亿多人口，人均国内生产总值（GDP）接近高收入国家门槛，中等收入群体规模超过4亿人，是全球最大和最有潜力的消费市场。同时，我国人均消费水平与发达国家相比还有较大差距，不断提高居民可支配收入在GDP中的比重，我国扩大消费还有很大空间。

Expanding consumption is the key support for promoting economic circulation more efficiently. In recent years, China’s consumption growth rate has slowed, and consumption expectations have been weak. Expanding consumption has become a key point for smoothing the domestic economic cycle. The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year proposed to focus on expanding domestic demand and “place the recovery and expansion of consumption in a priority position.” [5]5 The Central Economic Work Conference is an annual high-level meeting that sets economic policy priorities for the following year. The Politburo meeting of the CPC Central Committee held on July 24 this year proposed: “Give play to the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth.” [6]6 The Politburo of the CPC Central Committee is the top decision-making body of the Party when the Central Committee is not in session. Expanding consumption and upgrading the consumption structure are conducive both to smoothing the domestic economic cycle, unblocking bottlenecks in the economic cycle, and consolidating the domestic base; and to expanding imports of high-quality goods and services, effectively utilizing global factors and market resources, and promoting the upgrading of the domestic industrial structure, thereby promoting the mutual reinforcement of domestic and international circulations.

扩大消费是更高效率促进经济循环的关键支撑。近年来，我国消费增速减缓，消费预期较弱，扩大消费已成为畅通国内大循环的重点。去年底召开的中央经济工作会议提出，着力扩大国内需求，“要把恢复和扩大消费摆在优先位置”。今年7月24日召开的中共中央政治局会议提出：“发挥消费拉动经济增长的基础性作用”。扩大消费和消费结构升级，既有利于畅通国内大循环，打通经济循环堵点，夯实国内基本盘；又有利于扩大优质商品和服务进口，有效利用全球要素和市场资源，促进国内产业结构升级，从而推动国内国际双循环相互促进。

It should be pointed out that strengthening the fundamental role of consumption in economic development does not mean that investment is unimportant. On the contrary, investment is an important component of domestic demand and a driving force and efficiency multiplier for economic growth. Currently, manufacturing investment, infrastructure construction investment, etc., which account for the major part of China’s investment demand, all have growth potential and space. China has always maintained a relatively high savings rate and has the conditions to maintain a moderate investment growth rate and a relatively high investment rate. Expanding effective investment is not only necessary for promoting economic recovery and relatively rapid growth, but also conforms to China’s basic national conditions and stage-specific characteristics of development. However, if the investment rate is too high, it can easily cause problems such as large economic fluctuations. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed strengthening “the key role of investment in optimizing the supply structure.” The important significance of this lies in giving investment a new positioning for its main function based on the requirements of high-quality development, shifting the focus of expanding investment from directly driving economic growth to optimizing the supply structure.

需要指出的是，增强消费对经济发展的基础性作用，并不是说投资不重要。恰恰相反，投资是内需的重要组成部分，是经济增长的驱动力和增效器。当前，在我国投资需求中占主要部分的制造业投资、基础设施建设投资等，都具有增长潜力和空间。我国一直保持较高的储蓄率，有条件保持适度的投资增长率和较高的投资率。扩大有效投资不仅是促进经济恢复和较快增长之必需，而且符合我国基本国情和发展的阶段性特征。但如果投资率过高，也容易引起经济大幅度波动等问题。党的二十大报告提出增强“投资对优化供给结构的关键作用”，其重要意义在于从高质量发展的要求出发给予投资主要功能以新定位，把扩大投资的着重点从直接拉动经济增长转向优化供给结构。

Adhere to Comprehensive Policies and Coordinate Efforts from All Links to Expand Consumption

坚持综合施策，从各环节协同发力扩大消费

Consumption is at the terminal of the domestic economic cycle and is influenced by multiple factors including production, distribution, circulation, consumption itself, and the interrelationships among these links. Expanding consumption is a complex systematic project that requires comprehensive policies from all aspects and a well-coordinated “combination of measures.”

消费处于国内大循环的终端，受生产、分配、流通和消费本身以及各环节相互关系等多种因素影响。扩大消费是一个复杂的系统工程，需要从各方面综合施策，打好“组合拳”。

Production determines consumption. The level and structure of consumption are ultimately determined by the level of development of the productive forces. The foundation for expanding consumption lies in high-quality development, and it is necessary to maintain an economic growth rate that roughly corresponds to the potential growth rate. Currently, the factors constraining China’s economic development exist on both the supply side and the demand side, but the principal contradiction lies on the supply side. This is mainly manifested in the fact that the capacity for scientific and technological innovation is still not strong, and the supply structure cannot adapt to changes in the demand structure. Therefore, it is necessary to organically combine the expansion of consumption with the deepening of supply-side structural reform, lead high-quality development with innovation, improve the quality and efficiency of the production supply system, so as to increase the share of GDP available for distribution and consumption, and enhance its ability to meet consumer demand and create new demand.

生产决定消费。消费水平和结构归根到底是由生产力发展水平决定的。扩大消费的基础在于高质量发展，要保持大体符合潜在经济增长率的经济增速。当前制约我国经济发展的因素，供给和需求两侧都有，但矛盾的主要方面在供给侧。这主要表现在科技创新能力还不强、供给结构不能适应需求结构变化等。因此，要把扩大消费同深化供给侧结构性改革有机结合起来，以创新引领高质量发展，提高生产供给体系的质量和效益，以增加国内生产总值中可供分配和消费的份额，并增强其满足消费需求、创造新需求的能力。

Distribution is an important factor determining consumption. Consumption is a function of income, and the distribution of income and property is the basic factor determining the growth rate, total volume, and structure of consumption. Therefore, expanding consumption requires efforts to increase the share of residents’ income in the distribution of national income. First, adhere to the principle of distribution according to work as the mainstay and allowing coexistence of multiple modes of distribution. Implement the strategy of giving priority to employment to promote fuller employment; uphold the principle of more pay for more work, improve the mechanism for adjusting the minimum wage standard, actively promote the system of collective wage negotiation, and increase the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution. Improve the policy system for distribution according to factors, increase the income of low-income groups through multiple channels, and expand the middle-income group. Second, strengthen the regulatory role of taxation, social security, and transfer payments. Increase fiscal expenditure on education, medical care, and social security, promote equal access to basic public services, and continuously narrow the gap in public services between urban and rural areas and between regions. Increase investment in the field of public services, improve residents’ expectations for future consumption expenditure, and promote the expansion of consumer demand.

分配是决定消费的重要因素。消费是收入的函数，收入和财产分配是决定消费增速、总量和结构的基本因素。因此，扩大消费需要努力提高居民收入在国民收入分配中的比重。首先，坚持按劳分配为主体、多种分配方式并存。实施就业优先战略，促进更充分的就业；坚持多劳多得，健全最低工资标准调整机制，积极推行工资集体协商制度，提高劳动报酬在初次分配中的比重。完善按要素分配政策制度，多渠道增加低收入群体收入，扩大中等收入群体。其次，加大税收、社会保障、转移支付等调节力度。增加教育、医疗、社会保障等方面的财政支出，推进基本公共服务均等化，持续缩小城乡、区域公共服务差距。加大对公共服务领域的投资，改善居民对未来消费支出的预期，促进消费需求扩大。

Exchange (circulation) affects consumption at two levels. First, it affects consumption by influencing production. Marx said: “When the market expands, that is, when the scope of exchange expands, the scale of production also increases, and production becomes more subdivided.” [7]7 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume 1, Chapter 12, Section 1. While the various industries resulting from the subdivision of labor provide products and services to each other, they also provide each other with jobs and labor remuneration. Second, it plays a role as an intermediary between production, distribution, and consumption. Under the conditions of a market economy, without the development of logistics and commerce, consumption cannot be realized, let alone expanded. Circulation is an important foundation for smoothing the domestic and international dual circulations. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of a unified national market that is efficient, standardized, fair competition, and fully open, establish a unified national market system and rules, break down local protection and market segmentation, and unblock the key bottlenecks that constrain the economic cycle. Build a modern comprehensive transportation system, improve comprehensive transportation corridors, comprehensive transportation hubs, and logistics networks. Accelerate the removal of institutional and mechanism obstacles that hinder the market-based allocation of factors of production and the circulation of goods and services, create a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, further reduce market transaction costs, and promote the smooth flow of goods, services, and factors.

交换（流通）从两个层面对消费产生作用。一是通过影响生产进而影响消费。马克思说：“当市场扩大，即交换范围扩大时，生产的规模也就增大，生产也就分得更细。”分工细化的各个行业在互相提供产品和服务的同时，也彼此提供工作岗位和劳动报酬。二是作为生产、分配和消费的中介而发挥作用。在市场经济条件下，没有物流和商业的发展，消费就不能实现，更谈不上扩大。流通是畅通国内国际双循环的重要基础，要加快建设高效规范、公平竞争、充分开放的全国统一大市场，建立全国统一的市场制度规则，打破地方保护和市场分割，打通制约经济循环的关键堵点。建设现代综合运输体系，完善综合运输大通道、综合交通枢纽和物流网络。加快破除妨碍生产要素市场化配置和商品服务流通的体制机制障碍，打造市场化、法治化、国际化的一流营商环境，进一步降低市场交易成本，促进商品、服务和要素的流动畅通。

Consumption is the purpose of production, and it creates new needs for new production; it is the prerequisite and driving force for reproduction. With the development of science and technology, the economy and society, and the increase in income, the demand for means of consumption, including means of subsistence, means of development, and means of enjoyment, will continue to rise, and the breadth, depth, and height of consumer demand will continue to expand. At the same time, compared with investment, consumption generally has relatively small fluctuations and can play a fundamental role in stabilizing and underpinning economic development. Currently, to restore and expand consumption, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of urban and rural consumption infrastructure, effectively protect consumer rights, and create an environment that facilitates consumption and allows consumers to feel at ease. Optimize and improve consumption facilities, and continuously enhance the convenience, comfort, and satisfaction of consumption. Adapt to the new characteristics of consumer demand, expand new space for consumption, create new scenarios for consumption, and enrich new experiences for consumption. According to the changing trends in the structure of consumer demand, stabilize bulk consumption, expand service consumption, promote rural consumption, expand new types of consumption, and improve the long-term mechanism for expanding residents’ consumption.

消费是生产的目的，并为新的生产创造新的需要，是再生产的前提和动力。随着科学技术和经济社会发展以及收入的提高，包括生存资料、发展资料、享受资料在内的消费资料的需求会持续上升，消费需求的广度、深度和高度不断拓展。同时，相对于投资而言，在一般情况下消费波动性比较小，可以对经济发展起到稳定和托底的基础性作用。当前为恢复和扩大消费，要加快城乡消费基础设施建设，切实保护消费者权益，营造便利消费、放心消费的环境。优化和完善消费设施，不断提升消费便利度、舒适度、满意度。适应消费需求新特点，拓展消费新空间，打造消费新场景，丰富消费新体验。根据消费需求结构的变动趋势，稳定大宗消费，扩大服务消费，促进农村消费，拓展新型消费，完善扩大居民消费的长效机制。

Online Editor: Zhang Fujun

网络编辑：张福军