Synergetic Innovation in Social Governance in a Complex Network Structural Paradigm

Society is in essence a complex network system that is open, evolving and adaptable and possesses a coupling function. Social governance is a large-scale and complex systems engineering project. Due to the complexity and uncertainty of the environment and social affairs, the traditional government-led linear management model cannot provide effective interpretations and responses to complex social issues, and it is thus necessary to introduce the complexity scientific paradigm. Complexity science, especially complex system theory, has an intrinsic correspondence with social governance, and can reveal the inherent occurrence mechanism and rules brought about by the complexity of social governance. It indicates that the more complex a system is, the greater will be its requirements for systemic coordination and the more apparent its synergetic effects. A complex social network system is small-world and scale-free, with a community structure, preferential attachment and a topological structure characterized by the duality of virtuality and actuality. All of these have a direct and profound effect on social governance. To strengthen and innovate social governance, it is necessary to analyze the social system＇s complex network structure and characteristics, establish synergetic and innovative mechanisms and institutional arrangements for social governance, and carry out synergetic social governance.

The Consumption-Driven Effect of Place-based Industrial Policy:An Empirical Study Based on Development Zone Policy

Can the development zone policy that pioneered Chinese industrialization energize the consumption of urban residents and become an important means of achieving the coordinated development of industrialization and urbanization?We used the policy impact of upgrading provincial development zones to conduct empirical research on the consumptiondriven effect of development zone policy with the Difference in Difference(DID)model.Our findings show that the upgrading of development zones is significant in raising urban residents’total consumption,personal consumption,housing consumption and expenditure on children’s education.This is mainly due to the increase in productivity brought about by the upgrading policy.However,in cities that have more stringent household registration(hukou)systems,impose tougher home purchase restrictions(HPR)on the floating population and have less social harmony,the labor force is less willing and less able to consume,making it hard to expand domestic demand.

The Social Governance Community in Transforming Neighborhoods:A Spatial Reconstruction Perspective

The strategies of rapid urbanization and rural revitalization have fostered the emergence of transforming neighborhoods. Using a framework integrating multiple spatial attributes that embeds the administrative nature of space in its social nature and raises the level of its governance, this paper provides theoretical generalizations for the social governance communities of transforming neighborhoods on the basis of a typology that divides them into four types: social governance communities of individually constructed neighborhoods, social governance communities in post-demolition constructed neighborhoods, social governance communities in immigrant constructed neighborhoods, and social governance communities in collectively constructed neighborhoods. Social governance communities of transforming neighborhoods emerge in the course of spatial reconstruction and redevelopment of production. At the stage of space reconstruction, the administrative nature of space plays its part in developing differentiated spatial governance features, while the social nature of space takes effect through the establishment of four types of social governance community social networks: the loosely connected network, the multiple components network, the close interest network and the highly associated network. At the stage of space production, the social nature of space is embedded in governance and takes effect through the integration of top-down administrative control and bottom-up resident autonomy. Consequently, we see the generation of four governance strategies of administration that adjust the autonomy of social governance communities: 'control-superficial governance,' 'guidance-deliberative governance,' 'support-collaborative governance,' and 'leading-governance by the people.' In terms of theory, this study conducts a theoretical dialogue with the existing 'controlled autonomy' and 'autonomy with administrative elimination,' and in terms of practice, it has implications for strengthening popular rule by neighborhood social governance communities and filling the ability gap in such communities.

Childcare Policy in China:Review,Reflection and Reconstruction

In recent years,China’s“childcare crisis”has worsened,affecting children,women,families and even society as a whole in multiple ways.A review of the childcare policy since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 shows that it has shifted from construction to destruction and thence to partial reconstruction,entering a crucial reconstruction stage after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.To cope effectively with the childcare crisis that has emerged from the changes in population structure and population policies,socioeconomic transformation,family changes,etc.,we need to gain a renewed understanding of the important role of childcare policy in socioeconomic development and in the people’s sense of betterment,in order to build an integrated childcare system with universally accessible benefits in which the state,the market,society and families participate.

Transformation in the Form of a Better Life in the New Era and Its Value Guidance

A"better life in the new era,"a proposition unique to 21 st century Marxism,is based on the historical originality of socialism with Chinese characteristics.Along with the transformation of the main contradictions in Chinese society,"a better life in the new era"has become a new life-form.Of course,the new life-form and new development ideas are complementary.On the one hand,the proposition of the new development ideas is based on the transformation of the new life-forms,so the inherent purport of the two is closely related;on the other,the proposition of such ideas will further promote the construction of"a better life in the new era"at the level of practice,and will play a key leading role in the resolution of major social contradictions.Therefore,to comprehensively understand the revolutionary significance of a"better life in the new era"under the guidance of the new development principles,we must gain an intrinsic grasp of the many forms of a"better life in the new era,"including its actors,forms of occurrence,forms of realization and external forms.They have as their theoretical support such concepts as"the people as themain force,the ruling Party as the guide,""transformation of contradictions,integration of supply and demand,""labor orientation,co-creation and sharing,"and"homogeneous ideals extended worldwide."Together,these constitute a unique Chinese style.In the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics,or modernization,only the sublation of"objective[sachlicher]dependence"and adherence to the practical intention of"free individuality"can fulfill the"return"of a"better life in the new era"toward"man himself,"and achieve value guidance for the Chinese road.

The Policy Effects of the Environmental Governance of Chinese Local Governments:A Study Based on the Progress of the River Chief System

Water pollution control is an important part of the onerous long-term task of building a beautiful China. Based on water pollution data from the state-controlled monitoring sites and the manually compiled data on the evolution of the river chief system(Hezhangzhi 河长制), we used the Difference in Differences(DID) technique to identify the policy effects of the system in local practice. Our findings show that the system has achieved preliminary management of water pollution but has not significantly reduced the main water pollutants. This may indicate that local governments have whitewashed the symptoms rather than addressing the root cause. In the course of comprehensively advancing the river chief system, better governance results will be achieved if all levels of government formulate clear and appropriate goals, design sound and feasible accountability mechanisms, and invite professional third-party agencies specializing in water quality testing to supervise the work.

The Growth Paths and Mechanisms of Chinese Private Enterprise

During the past forty years of reform and opening up,China’s private economy has made remarkable strides.This paper introduces start-up organizational processes into the study of elite mobility in emerging markets,exploring the relationship between the social origins of entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial outcomes.Our research finds that the initial scale,growth rate and current size of enterprises established by elite entrepreneurs are larger than those of grassroots entrepreneurs.With the deepening of economic reform and the growth of the private economy,the social origins of large business owners generally tend to be elitist and the scale advantage of the enterprises set up by elite entrepreneurs,especially endogenous or inside-track entrepreneurs,is ever more striking.The expansion of such enterprises’superior position is mainly due to their initial advantages of scale;after the start-up period,the advantage conferred by their pace of growth does not increase synchronously.In order to promote the further development of the private economy and release its innovative potential,it is necessary to give full play to the government’s function of regulating market operations and correcting market failure,and thus actively creating a good business environment.

Supply-Side Structural Reform in the Service Industry and Escaping the Middle Income Trap

The internal consumption and production structure of the service industry that now dominates the Chinese economy needs to be optimized.Introducing supply-side structural reform to improve the in-depth integration of advanced manufacturing and the modern service industry and promoting a strong domestic market is the key to escaping the middle income trap.We use 1950-2010 data from 45 non-oil-exporting economies representing the structural evolution of the service industry worldwide to compare Asian economies that have passed through the middle income trap with Latin American counterparts that remain stuck in the trap,and thence proceed to construct a matched model that covers the consumption and production service industries and their supply of human capital,with the aim of identifying the formative mechanisms and conditions for escaping the middle income trap through upgrading the structure of the service industry.Substantially developing the production service sector,raising the supply of public services so as to cultivate the quantity and quality of human capital,and matching senior-level human capital with knowledge-intensive serviceindustries will propel the upgrading and transformation of China’s economic structure toward high-quality development.

Globalization of Services in the Internet Age:A New Engine,Acceleration and Major Power Competitiveness

The Internet and information technology have fundamentally changed the inefficient and non-tradable nature of the service industry and greatly strengthened the impetus for services globalization.In the Internet age,the accelerating globalization of services is irreversible.In the course of this process,China will enjoy advantages in terms of development stage,market scale,business models,Internet and digital technology applications and degree of openness,all of which will give it greater competitiveness.An analysis of cultural and sports industries indicates that the opening up of large countries’cultural markets will increase the international influence of their cultural factors.

The Key to Precise Poverty Alleviation Rests in the Precise Indentifi cation of Impoverished Populations——An Analysis of the Targeting Effectiveness of China’s Rural Dibao Program

The success of the poverty elimination program,as an important element in the strategy of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020,depends on the accurate identification of the population living in poverty.An analysis of 2013 data from the China Household Income Project(CHIP 2013)shows that in terms of the income-based poverty line,the targeting of the current rural minimum living standard guarantee or subsistence allowance program(dibao)program is very imprecise;it improves with the use of multidimensional poverty criteria,but coverage remains poor.In order to unify the criteria for the rural poverty alleviation(fupin)criteria and the dibao criteria,a uniform set of national criteria should be established.This should shift from income as the sole criterion to multidimensional criteria,so that a uniform scheme can be developed to identify those in need.At the same time,the coverage of the dibao program should be extended and the transfer amounts increased,so that the scheme genuinely covers all of the target population in rural China.

The Reordering of Relationship and the Shaping of a National Governance Structure in China

Various government documents tend to put the reordering of relationship together with institutional reform and functional transformation.If we fail to understand this important issue,we will be unable to understand China’s national governance system.The reordering of relationship has four dimensions:government and market;central and local government;the economy and society;and government and society.The routes to this reordering can be divided into separation,retention and postponement.On the one hand,the conflicts between these routes have affected China’s national governance structure,so that it seeks a balance between closure and opening up;on the other,the course taken by the reordering of relationship is rooted in the demands for generality and modernity that coexist within China’s national governance.One could say that the straightening out of relationship has reshaped the distinctive features of this governance.In the course of continuous reordering,some of its important elements have undergone a crucial change.From the perspective of the reordering of relationship,the openness with which these relations have been absorbed into a larger system is crucial to the future transformation of China’s national governance.

The Impact of Value-Added Trade on Global Economic Comovement

Using a value-added accounting framework,we conducted empirical research to analyze product value-added in accordance with the principle of value-sourcing and value-absorption areas,so as to decode"the trade-comovement puzzle."As our study shows,value-added trade can provide a significant positive stimulus for the economic comovement,but it is marked by asymmetry between hub and spoke countries with the former having a pivotal role.Our analysis of cohesive subgroups indicates that cohesive subgroups and value-added trade are complementary.When bilateral countries belong to the same subgroup,the intensity of their value-added trade exerts an increasing influence on the economic comovement.China has adopted a non-equilibrium opening up strategy and has actively boosted value-added linkages with hub countries;its utilization of the correlative effect of economic growth will enable it to achieve convergence with the growth of high-income economies.At the same time,China is taking advantage of being the core node in the Belt and Road trade network and is continuing to boost the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative,providing channels for countries along the Belt and Road to integrate into the global value-added system of division of labor and building a global economic environment that features win-win collaboration and co-development.

Women’s Political Status and the Sex Ratio at Birth:An Empirical Study Based on 1950-2020 County-Level Data

Women’s emancipation is an important part of the people’s liberation movement led by the Communist Party of China.Improving women’s political status is the basic condition for improving their social welfare rights and interests.Based on the data from county gazetteers covering more than 1,700 counties,the censuses of 1990 and 2000,and other representative surveys,we conducted an empirical study on the long-term effect of women’s political status on the sex ratio at birth.Our research found that the higher the ratio of female Communist Party members in each county in 1950,the more normal was the sex ratio at birth in the following 50 years.The improved political status of women aged 16-20 significantly raised the proportion of girls among surviving children,especially in the era of family planning.This demographic study provides empirical historical evidence for the first time on one aspect of the long-term social impact of the mission of the Chinese people’s liberation.

The Economics of China’s Opening Up:Developing an Economic Theory That Explains China’s Achievement

Research on the construction of a theory for China’s open economy should break through the limitations of mainstream Western international economics.Firstly,we need to reveal the laws revolving around"three relationships and six threads"that governed China’s incremental process of trade liberalization.Secondly,we need to summarize China’s experience of the way new technologies,including the Internet,digital technologies and artificial intelligence(AI)have fostered and reshaped the position of small and mediumsized enterprises(SMEs)as micro-actors,providing us with new advantages in international competition.Thirdly,we need to analyze the new win-win mode of the international division of labor over land and sea established under the guidelines of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI),as well as a new concept of pluralist balance in the international economy marked by a close connection between trade surplus and foreign investment.Fourthly,under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s important discourses,we should offer a rationale for the Chinese scheme of global economy governance within the community of shared future for mankind.

The Dilemma of International Financial Reporting Standards and the Optimization of Financial Reporting——From the Perspective of Marx’s Theory of Fictitious Capital

Following the outbreak of the subprime financial crisis,international accounting standards came under heavy fire for being strongly pro-cyclical.Under those standards,financial reporting mixes financial statement data with financial analysis data,seriously weakening the public interest function of financial reporting.An analysis using Marx’s fictitious capital theory shows that fair value accounting and asset impairment accounting are both defective.In line with the principle of“accounting based on legal fact,”we use the methodology of“historical cost accounting plus fair value disclosure”to distinguish between legal fact and financial expectations in financial reporting.This is a viable means of appropriately resolving the contradiction between ensuring that enterprise financial reporting observes domestic law and ensuring that it accords with international trends.

Breakthroughs on Fundamental Issues of Socialist Political Economy in China's Economic Reform

How to effectively integrate the basic economic system of the primary stage of socialism in which public ownership is the dominant and diverse economic sectors develop side by side with a resource allocation model in which the market plays a decisive role is a fundamental issue in building a socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics.Western bourgeois economics and the traditional understanding of Marxist classical writers reject the possibility of such integration.In the transitional countries of Central and Eastern Europe,the practice and theoretical exploration of combining the two ended by abandoning public ownership.The fundamental feature of socialist economic reform practice with Chinese characteristics is to uphold their organic unity.This approach has already achieved great progress but at the same time is confronting a series of new problems.

Introduction

Revitalization of the rural areas and promotion of the sustainable development of rural society cannot be carried out under the old system and policy context of the dual urbanrural structure.Individual farmers have been one of the main market players in agricultural production,but at the same time,there are more organized companies and social groups that can withstand risks better than individual farmers.A huge gap has emerged between the complex situation of agricultural production and the functioning of traditional agricultural administration,a gap that has resulted in the basic decoupling of individual farmers’agricultural production needs from government administration.The sweeping identity politics concept of“the farmer”exists only in name;it has been replaced by other identities that have more social interrelationships,like class,occupation,market,citizenship,etc.If,therefore,in the course of urban-rural integration,we insist on people’s identity as farmers and interact with them on this basis,it’s like trying to get blood from a stone.Similarly,if we stick to the geographical and administrative criteria differentiating urban and rural,and classify the latter in a space akin to a“reservation”while excluding them from the institutions of the modern state and civil society,most people will have no choice but to vote with their feet,leaving with no regrets those localities where they have neither property rights nor civil rights and opting for towns and cities which,despite their higher prices,greater effort and higher cost of living,offer better job opportunities in emerging areas.They head there even though these places impose higher barriers to entry for ordinary workers,such as the skills,educational qualifications and social security contributions required by the widespread“points-based”household registration policy,under which people who have lived and worked in a city for years can obtain a permanent residential permit.China has bid farewell to the policy and institutional context of the“agriculture,farmers and rural areas”issue of the dual urban-rural developmental stage.However,at the level of government,market and society,we have yet to take a realistic look at these groups and their activities.These groups,as major players in the market,in social class,in occupations and as citizens,cross between urban and rural areas on a large scale.