居民消费不足的国际比较与制度根源——兼论扩大内需的制度设计

Institutional Origins of Low Household Consumption and Its International Comparison——Also on the Institutional Design of Expanding Domestic Demand

长期以来,居民消费率持续低于世界平均水平是中国内需偏低的重要表现。从国际比较的视野出发,有助于明确中国居民消费不足的特征及其制度根源。除“重积累、重投资”的亚洲增长模式外,官员晋升锦标赛、要素价格扭曲等体制原因是中国居民消费率偏低的重要制度根源;金融抑制和土地要素价格扭曲等制度性因素,是抑制居民消费增长的关键机制。居民储蓄的利息收入增长受到金融抑制的制约,土地要素市场发育滞后,限制了农民财产性收入的增长,这些因素都会抑制居民消费的增长。持续推进要素价格市场化改革,平衡消费与投资的关系,提振消费与改善人民生活品质双管齐下,是扩大内需的着力点。

For a long time,China’s household consumption rate has been lower than the world average,which is an important manifestation of China’s low domestic demand.A study from an international comparison perspective is helpful to make clear the characteristics of household insufficient consumption and its institutional origins.In addition to the regional economic development mode of“focusing on accumulation and investment”under the Asian growth mode,institutional causes such as official promotion championship and factor price distortion are two important institutional reasons for the low consumption rate of Chinese residents.Financial repression and land factor price distortion are the key mechanisms to dampen the rise of household consumption.The growth of interest income from residents’banking deposit is restricted under financial repression,and the development of land factor market lags behind,which limits the source of farmers’land income and jointly inhibits residents’consumption.The focus of expanding domestic demand is to further promote the market⁃oriented reform of factor prices,balance the relationship between consumption and investment,and work on boosting consumption and improving the quality of people’s life at the same time.