Political Economy Quarterly

 

Latest Issue

  • Reform of State-owned Enterprises and the Evolution of Industrial Chain Structure:A Review,Analysis,and Strategic Implications

    WANG Yong;YAO Yao;Institute of New Structural Economics,Peking University;

    This study employs a macroeconomic perspective integrated with the analytical framework of New Structural Economics to systematically deconstruct the dynamic evolution of China's industrial chain structure during the state-owned enterprise(SOE) reform process. The research reveals that the vertical structure characterized by “upstream SOE dominance and downstream private-owned enterprise(POE) competition” is an inevitable outcome resulting from the four-dimensional synergy of factor endowment evolution, national strategic iteration, external environmental constraints, and institutional transformation. As reforms deepen, the phased dominance of these four variables continuously reshapes the vertical structural morphology: during the capital-scarce initial industrialization phase, administrative division of labor resolves factor contradictions; under the wave of globalization, downstream export expansion enhances upstream SOEs' viability; during the financial crisis period, countercyclical interventions buffer systemic risks yet expose structural contradictions, forcing supply-side reforms; under technological blockade pressure, factor endowment transitions toward technology intensity, driving industrial chain restructuring. Throughout this process, the mission and functions of SOEs progressively undergo qualitative transformations: from scale expansion to value creation, from passive regulatory objects to policy implementation agents, and from industrial catch-up to innovation leadership. Future efforts must further deepen SOE reforms, focus on strategic core industries, and refine SOE-POE collaboration mechanisms to continuously enhance SOEs' viability and industrial chain resilience, ensuring national economic security while achieving high-quality development.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1522K]

  • The Theoretical Logic and Practical Explanation of the "Three-circuit" of the Chinese Characteristic National Economy

    HE Zhaopeng;YUAN Hanzheng;XIAO Chang;School of Economics,Central University of Finance and Economics;

    Against the backdrop of China's impeded economic circulation, characterized by insufficient domestic demand, this article based on the practice of the socialist market economy, critically draws on Marxist theory of “Three-circuit” of capital to construct a theoretical framework for analyzing contemporary China's economic circulation: the “Three-circuit” of the Chinese national economy with its distinct characteristics. The core characteristic lies in the institutional constraints and strategic guidance imposed by the socialist public ownership of the means of production on the profitability-seeking nature of capital, with the entire national economic circulation serving the purposes of socialist production. Utilizing this framework to analyze China's economic practice across three phases since the tax-sharing system reform, this paper reveals that excessive reliance on the “secondary circulation” and neglect of the “tertiary circulation” are underlying causes of insufficient domestic demand. Consequently, this article proposes a reform strategy of “dual transformation”: on the one hand, increase investment in scientific and technological innovation and people's livelihood development represented by affordable housing to change the mode of economic development; on the other hand, coordinate and advance related institutional reforms, transform the incentive and constraint mechanisms of local government behavior, while appropriately retaining the proactive role of local governments in conducting infrastructure investment and buffering economic fluctuations

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 2027K]

  • The Real Obstacles,Theoretical Mechanism,and Policy Suggestions of Smoothing the Urban-Rural Economic Cycle:An Analysis from the Perspective of Political Economy

    YANG Shuigen;MA Youbi;LI Qianying;School of Economics and Trade,Hunan University of Technology and Business;

    Smoothing the urban-rural economic cycle is an objective requirement for enhancing the endogenous power and reliability of the domestic circulation of China. On the basis of clarifying that there are real obstacles to the unimpeded urban-rural economic cycle in China, such as the ineffective two-way flow of urban-rural factors, the low degree of integration of urban-rural industries, and the insufficient coordination of urban-rural demand and supply, this paper, in combination with the political economy analysis of the development of urban-rural relations, constructs a theoretical analysis framework for smooth the urban-rural economic cycle. Further, relying on the theory of division of labor development, it deeply analyzes the theoretical mechanism for the unimpeded urban-rural economic cycle through division of labor development. Finally, it is proposed that the smooth of the economic circulation between urban and rural areas needs to meet three dimensions: from the perspective of microeconomics, guiding the two-way flow of factors and constructing a unified market for urban and rural factors; from the perspective of meso-economics, giving full play to the comparative advantages of regions and promoting the accelerated integration of urban and rural industries; and from the perspective of macroeconomics, promoting the synergy of “efficient market” and “well-functioning government” to form a benign system of matching supply and demand.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1441K]

  • Deductive Expansion: The Inner Logic of Marx's Production Function Thought and Economic Growth Models

    ZHANG Zhongren;Institute of Mathematical Economics Osaka;

    This paper shows that the idea of the production function originated with classical political economists. The formula W=c+v+m, which appears for the first time in Volume 3 of Capital, is a typical expression of a linear production function. Although some attempts to exponentiate the Marxian production function(e.g., the study of Onishi Hiroshi) are not yet satisfactory, the progress of the study of the production function from the particular to the general reveals that both the linear production function and the exponential production function(especially the C-D production function) belong to the special case of the CES-type production function, and the two are united in this sense. When the production function is further generalized to the VES type, the intrinsic connection between Marx's production function and other related production functions becomes clear. Marx's model of reproduction is also a kind of production function, which is a production function in the form of a set of equations constructed by Marx by using the means of economic analysis to derive the equilibrium conditions of simple reproduction and expanded reproduction, which contains the self-regulating mechanism, through the exchange relationship between the two categories. In conclusion, the production function is a new field of political economy research, originated from the new understanding of Marxist economics triggered by the progress of the fusion of mathematics and economics, and it is a promising new subject in the combination of the inheritance and the development of Marxist economics. It can not only expand the theory of Marxist economics in a new dimension but also further improve the application system of Marxist economics, especially providing new tools or means for the formulation or analysis of economic policies, so that economic theories can better serve the solution of real economic problems.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1458K]

  • The Impact Mechanism and Regional Comparison of the Coupling between China's Maritime Economy and Digital Economy on Balanced Development of Foreign Trade

    SONG Shuli;ZHANG Yi;CHEN Yao;School of International Business,Zhejiang International Studies University;School of Economics and Management,Zhejiang University of Science and Technology;

    The coupling of China's marine economy and digital economy is an important feature of Chinese-style modernization and development, which has an equally far-reaching impact on the balanced development of China's foreign trade, and is the applied meaning of Chinese-style modernization and development. Based on the panel data of 11 coastal provinces and cities along the coast of China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses the coupling model to measure the degree of coupling coordination between the ocean economy and the digital economy. On this basis, We empirically analyse the impact of the degree of coupling coordination between the ocean economy and the digital economy on the balanced development of China's foreign trade with the double fixed effect model. The results show that the synergistic growth of the ocean economy and the digital economy is differentiated and unbalanced in coastal regions, with the Eastern Ocean Economic Circle, the Southern Ocean Economic Circle, and the Northern Ocean Economic Circle in descending order according to the development performance. Furthermore, the coupling of the digital economy with the ocean economy has a significant effect on trade quality, and the moderating effect of marine R&D expenditure and transport accessibility can more effectively promote the balanced development of China's foreign trade.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1410K]

  • A Systematic Investigation of Marx's Theory of Population Production

    YANG Chenglin;School of Marxism, Huazhong University of Science and Technology;

    Marx's significant discussions on problem of population production are scattered in a series of his works, especially in Capital and its manuscripts. Research reveals that through the preliminary construction of historical materialism in German Ideology, the critique of classical and vulgar economics' population theories in the Capital manuscripts, and further research and elaboration in Capital itself, there exists a theory of population production embedded in Marx's critical system of political economy. Marx's theory of population production can be summarized as follows: one core law, three pairs of important relationships, and three key issues. Trying to explore and construct Marx's theory of population production is not only the need of innovating and developing Marxist political economy, but also the need of explaining and responding to practical problems.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1294K]

  • Kalecki and Keynes:Two Economists Who Independently Arrived at Nearly Identical Answers

    YANG Yang;Liaoning Provincial Party School of CPC;

    In the 1930s, when the Great Depression hit, Michal Kalecki and John Maynard Keynes respectively put forward their own theories of effective demand. This article starts from Michal Kalecki to compare the two economists, explore their disputes, and examine the similarities and differences. Regarding Kalecki and Keynes, due to different perspectives in existing literature, the understanding is naturally different. Kalecki's followers emphasize more on “Kalecki's criticism of Keynes”, thereby highlighting Kalecki's superiority. However, this is only one side of the coin; the other side is “Keynes' criticism of Kalecki”. Ignoring the latter aspect may lead researchers to have a biased evaluation of Kalecki. Kalecki and Keynes have differences in theoretical construction, argumentation methods, and ideology. Nevertheless, their relationship should be complementary rather than competitive. For researchers, what is truly important is how to integrate Kalecki and Keynes to enable economic theory analysis to have a more complete picture. This is the common intellectual legacy left by the two economists to future generations.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1286K]

  • The "Regulation School" and the "Classics" :Modes of Accumulation and Modes of Regulation in a Classical Model of Economic Growth

    FAGERBERG Jan;HE Yanxi;WANG Yujie;YANG Hanxi;The Centre for Technology,Innovation and Culture(TIK),University of Oslo;School of Economics,Renmin University of China;

    This text provides a simple mathematical formalization(one sector long-term growth models) for some insights of the “regulation school”. Specifications are given on the nature of technical change and on the form of regulation of real wage, and three models are studied(competitive regulation with constant technological level, competitive regulation with “taylorist” methods of production, monopolistic regulation with “taylorist” and “fordist” methods of production). These models suggest that, if monopolistic regulation provided an answer to tendancies towards “keynesian crisis” entailed by taylorist methods of production, on the contrary it can not reverse the tendancy towards a fall in profitability(“classical crisis”) entailed by the generalization of fordism.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 1401K]

  • Imperialism:Historical Legacies and Contemporary Realities

    LANE David;Department of Sociology,University of Cambridge;Emmanuel College,University of Cambridge;

    Imperialism is a territorial process driving international conflict and economic exploitation both within and between nation states. How should imperialism be understood today, and how might an understanding of its mechanisms contribute to the analysis of contemporary political crises and help to shape appropriate policy responses? I contend that the idea of classical imperialism has been superseded by a conception of neo-imperialism, which is under challenge in an emerging bifurcated world order. Under neo-imperialism, dominant states develop their transnational interests based on proposals by coalitions of domestic and foreign elites-military and security, ideological and religious, political and national, as well as economic. Future trajectories may take the form of ultra-imperialism or super-imperialism or, consequent on the rise of challenger states, facilitate a move to socialist globalisation.

    2025 03 v.4;No.12 [Abstract][OnlineView][Download 669K]