Great Achievements in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects in the New Era and Prospects for the Country's New Journey: Statistical Monitoring and Analysis Based on the China Balanced Development Index
XU Xianchun, LIU Wanqi, PENG Hui, ZHANG Zhongwen
School of Statistics, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics; Tsinghua China Data Center, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University; School of Statistics and Management; Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Summary:
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects for the benefit of more than 1.4 billion people is not only a solemn commitment made by China's party to its people and history but also a key step in realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This study focuses on the statistical monitoring and analysis of the core contents of the Tsinghua China Balanced Development Index during the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects since the 18th CPC National Congress. These contents include data relating to economic development, social governance, cultural construction, poverty alleviation, the people's livelihoods, and the ecological environment. The results comprehensively reflect China's great achievements. Further to this study's use of the monitoring results to examine the country's new journey, it analyzes the problems and challenges presented by the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country. Based on our results, this study suggests countermeasures to address the main contradictions affecting China's society in the new era and help start its new journey toward the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country. The construction of the China Balanced Development Index is based on the principal contradictions affecting Chinese society in the new era. The index links the need to improve people's lives with imbalances and inadequacies in the country's development and meets the requirements for a comprehensive system to monitor the country's progress in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. First, the China Balanced Development Index measures comprehensive criteria for the improvement of people's lives, which cover four areas: economic development, social progress, the ecological environment, and people's well-being. Second, based on the idea of no one being left behind on the path to a prosperous society benefiting all people, the China Balanced Development Index embodies the whole population and uses the Poverty Incidence Rate indicator to measure the progress of poverty alleviation in different regions. Thirdly, the construction of the China Balanced Development Index embodies all regions, fully addressing the problems of development imbalances between different regions and between urban and rural areas. Our results show historic achievements in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects since the beginning of the new era: economic development continues to advance, the level of social governance continues to improve, cultural soft power is becoming increasingly prominent, poverty is successfully alleviated, people's living standards are significantly enhanced, and the ecological environment is improving markedly. Based on our analysis of the data from the China Balanced Development Index, this study finds the following problems and challenges: regional differences need to be further narrowed, the imbalance between urban and rural development remains prominent, the ability to innovate does not meet the requirements of high-quality development, imbalances and inadequacies in the people's disposable incomes remain prominent, the equalization of basic public services needs to be further ameliorated, and governance of the ecological environment needs to be further improved. This study suggests some potential solutions to the above problems. First, adhering to the strategy of promoting major regional development and building a new pattern of regional coordinated development. Second, vigorously implementing China's rural revitalization strategy and promoting the integrated development of the country's urban and rural areas. Third, strengthening the construction of technological innovation and diffusion systems and continuously improving the national innovation capability. Fourth, ameliorating the income distribution policy to further narrow the income distribution gap. Fifth, making deeper pension, medical care, and education reforms, while promoting the equalization of basic public services. Finally, further modernizing the governance of the ecological environment to achieve sustainable development.
许宪春, 刘婉琪, 彭慧, 张钟文. 新时代全面建成小康社会的辉煌成就及新征程展望——基于“中国平衡发展指数”的综合分析[J]. 金融研究, 2021, 496(10): 1-21.
XU Xianchun, LIU Wanqi, PENG Hui, ZHANG Zhongwen. Great Achievements in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects in the New Era and Prospects for the Country's New Journey: Statistical Monitoring and Analysis Based on the China Balanced Development Index. Journal of Financial Research, 2021, 496(10): 1-21.
