China Focus
Only socialism can save China. This slogan has shouted for nearly 70 years since the socialist transformation of the 1950s.This is the 70 years of exploration. In the 30 years of the Mao Zedong era, the basic system of China has been formed, and a relatively complete industrial system has been established, but the people have long been in a quagmire for a long time.
In addition to the famine in the early 1960s, most rural population has been hungry; the people in the city have benefited from the national policy tilt, and barely can mix a food and clothing.After the reform and opening up, the people across the country not only were full, but also obese has become a major problem that plagues people, especially women. Each year, hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on removing those fats.
But some people say that socialism is almost lost in China.Deng Xiaoping had expected that China's per capita income may not be able to keep up with developed capitalist countries for a long time, but because socialism is implemented, the people's life will be much better.However, how to achieve the benefits of socialism under market economic conditions?He did not say that it was actually a major issue for future leaders.
China's institutional advantages have been exerted in terms of stability maintenance, resource mobilization, long -term planning, decision -making and implementation, and resilience, and the infrastructure construction of a game of chess in the country, but in the most critical part, the income distribution is still in terms of income distributionFacing a huge problem, because the office of the market will inevitably lead to the differentiation of the rich and the poor, and the people of the rich are unable to drive the common prosperity of others.
China has a large number of low -income population, and the monthly income of 600 million people is only about 1,000 yuan, and it is not enough to pay the rent.As a result, there is insufficient demand for payment and a large amount of production capacity.This is the basic contradiction of capitalism in Marx's writing: market capacity rather than actual demand is the upper limit of economic growth, causing poverty and excess to exist at the same time.Socialism is to break through market restrictions and release the total production capacity that can be achieved under existing technical conditions, that is, liberating productivity.
If China can release the remaining production capacity, it is enough to eliminate poverty and allow most people to live a middle class life, but the market rules are not allowed to do so.To some extent, it is inevitable that it is inevitable to remove the capitalist system. This is not only because of the New Cold War, but also because socialism needs a relatively independent and rarely restricted policy and institutional space.
Knowledge economy brings Xintiandi
The future of socialism is affected by the rise of the knowledge economy.The knowledge economy is forced the capitalist production method into the dead alley, bringing new worlds to socialism.
In the fourth industrial revolution, knowledge is the most important production factor.There are several significant features of the knowledge economy: 1. Once the knowledge is invented, it can be repeatedly used, and the marginal cost is close to zero; 2. The positive and external benefits that knowledge products are extensive and traditional domestic product (GDP) are often unable to count on the front and external benefits.(POSITIVE Externalities); 3. The knowledge economy follows the law of Moore, which is exponentially increased;
The marginal costs are zero, extensive positive external benefits and index growth, which means that social productivity can make rapid progress, scarce will be completely eliminated, and the material and spiritual living materials can be treated with each other.However, capitalism seriously restricts the performance of knowledge and economic advantages.
First, the protection of intellectual property rights seems to be righteous, but intellectual property rights are also the enemy of the intellectual economy, because it greatly limits the use of knowledge and guarantees the high profits of a few people, not the well -being of the people.
The development path of intellectual property hindering productivity includes: 1. The generalization and excessive protection of property rights have pushed up the cost of transaction, which caused the infringement of public interests and the contusion of social morality.Health and life are obviously not the concept of socialism.And technological development path.
Any intellectual property rights are based on the spiritual wealth created by humans, and uses a large number of crystals of knowledge, experience, technology, and cultural civilization that belongs to all humanity.Its results should be shared to a greater extent rather than a few people.
The statement of intellectual property protection and invention creates enthusiasm, even in a capitalist country, it is not completely in line with the facts.Empirical studies have shown that the initial initial causes of scientific research, innovation and entrepreneurship mainly come from the stimulus of hobbies, challenges, ideals and values of altistism, finding and realizing the value of life, and so on. Making money is only a means or by -product.
Socialism is to discover and use these social motivations that are drowned by the laws of capitalist jungle and inherent in human nature; capitalism only uses and magnifies the selfish personal motivation.Therefore, intellectual property is part of capitalist ideology.To break through it, socialism needs a relatively independent policy and institutional space.
Second, extensive positive external benefits are an important feature of the knowledge economy, and it is also a major way for wealth to spread in the whole society.The cheap mobile phones made in China and Huawei Network, which made Africa's poor and backward tribes overnight, and started business in the world. This miracle's economic and social benefits cannot be measured with GDP.The logic of capitalism is to restrict the overflow of positive and external benefits by strengthening property rights, and use dilute property rights to escape the responsibility for negative external effects.
This is because the purpose of capitalist production is to maximize profits, and the purpose of socialist production, with the current official statement of the Chinese Communist Party, is to meet the people's increasing needs of a better life.One of the main tasks of the government is to create conditions to maximize the external and external benefits and even become the main force of social production.
The government itself is also a major producer of positive external benefits.The reason why the United States has become a innovative country with developed technology is the government's investment in sharing technology.Some of the core technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as computers, Internet, satellite navigation, new energy, mobile phone touch screen technology, human genome plan, aerospace, Silicon Valley model, etc., are all products of the US government institutions contributed or led research and development.EssenceThe government spends the money of taxpayers, and its scientific research results must be shared by society.The Chinese government has done a good job, especially in infrastructure, consciously enhanced the overflow effect.For example, the cost of high -speed rail construction is expensive, and the operations of operations every year, but it is very cost -effective to count the national economic and social accounts.The national system and the scientific and technological research of the national system and the national picking organization have this characteristic.
Third, with the continuous improvement of the intelligence economy, the ratio of salary income in the initial distribution will also become smaller and smaller, and the ratio of investment income will become larger and larger, making social wealth concentrate on capital.In the long run, it is possible to retain only if the salary is lower than the cost of automation.However, Moore's Law means that the cost of automation will decline in index. In addition, the more intense competition in the labor market, the wage level will inevitably be lowered until it is difficult to support their families.
Edge groups with low wage levels
Such situations have emerged in developed countries such as the United States, and more and more working classes often need to work in a few jobs to get monthly bills.These people are full -time jobs, have a good education level, and work hard, but they cannot maintain middle -class life by salary. They are known as the working poor.This is why some people have vigorously promoted the amendments to increase the minimum salary to at least 15 US dollars per hour (called Living Wage).The legal minimum wage is already using non -market means, because under capitalist conditions, the strong productive forces in the United States are increasing and these expanding marginal groups.
Due to the characteristics of the increasing marginal benefits of knowledge and economy (especially in the Internet era), investment opportunities are increasingly concentrated in a small number of people, a few projects or enterprises, so that wealth is a large number of lucky lucky people who have successfully entrepreneurship.With the improvement of the degree of monopoly, these large companies, large companies, and even related government departments can be possible to the middle class and theirConsumers continue to cut leeks and increase the cost of social life while obtaining rich profits.This nature of rich and poor is sufficient to cause revolution and one of the root causes of the current world turbulence.
Fourth, the growth of the knowledge economy gradually decoupled with employment growth, and employment has become a major problem that plagues governments and basic unsolvable governments.Under capitalism, there is no food without work, and no job may eventually become the normal state of most people.At this step, the capitalist production method will inevitably end. Only non -market means, that is, socialism can this contradiction be resolved.
However, in the era of knowledge economy, policies such as the principle of distribution of traditional socialism and the proportion of labor in the initial distribution of labor will be outdated.Socialism with Chinese characteristics will become the past when the market -oriented marketization is liberated. What is needed to open up the future is a new thinking, especially how to break through the tight curse of employment, so that people can live without the traditional sense of employment.Day of dignity.
China should start the preliminary research work of the basic income (UBI) for the basic income of the whole people as soon as possible.In capitalist countries, people's living standards and happiness can catch up and surpass them.Western countries and a group of developing countries (including India) have conducted a lot of theoretical research, demonstration and extensive pilots on UBI.
In the preliminary election of the 2020 American election, Andrew Yang, the Chinese campaign nominee of the Democratic Party, only played a UBI card, which achieved great success.As a person who has no political experience, his campaign results far exceeded Kamala Harris, who was nominated by Biden as the vice presidential candidate.He successfully put UBI into the mainstream issues of US politics. It can be expected that UBI will occupy an increasingly center position in US politics in the future.
UBI is an attempt to surpass capitalism and is socialist.In contrast, China, as a socialist country, is behind.
The author is a senior researcher at the East Asia Institute of the National University of Singapore
