The Socialist Market Economy

A socialist market economy is inseparable from a basic socialist system. Effective alignment of the two, so as to fully leverage the socialist system and tap the potential of market mechanisms in resource allocation, is key to developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is also key to China's economic achievements since the rollout of reform and opening up. Over the past four decades, economic structural reform has been a gradual process of developing a socialist market economy, a process that has gone through stages of testing, implementation and continuous improvement. It is a process focusing on rationalizing the relationship between the government and the market.

Establishing a socialist market economy is a natural result of China's reform and opening up, and a major outcome of exploring new theories on Chinese socialism. Following the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in late 1978, the country embarked on a journey of reform and opening up, which was also a process of market-oriented reform. The Resolution on Some Historical Questions of the Party Since the Founding of the PRC, adopted at the sixth plenary session in 1981, proposed the guideline of "building a planned economy supplemented by market regulation." As the idea of respecting and obeying the law of value in economic activities gained a wider foothold, economic activities were channeled into the mainstream of a commodity economy. On this basis, the 13th CPC National Congress in 1987 advocated that a socialist planned commodity economy should be a system combining a planned economy and the market.

In 1992, the 14th CPC National Congress affirmed that the objective of China's economic structural reform was to build a socialist market economy. This move showed that the Party had incorporated the concept of market economy into socialism. A related decision was adopted by the 14th CPC Central Committee at its third plenary session in 1993. The ensuing 20 years witnessed ongoing attempts to find the right balance in the relationship between the government and the market.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013 emphasized the market's decisive role in resource allocation and the importance of improving the functions of the government. These policy adjustments pointed to the fact that the key to further economic structural reform remained the correct balance in the relationship between the government and the market. The 19th CPC National Congress in 2017 required accelerating the improvement of the socialist market economy. At its fifth plenary session held in 2020, the 19th CPC Central Committee reaffirmed its commitment to fully leveraging the decisive role of the market in allocating resources and giving better play to the role of the government to ensure better alignment between an efficient market and a well-functioning government.

Today China has established a sound socialist market economy, a system never tried before, and a concept never proposed in economic classics anywhere in the world. This makes it a unique creation of the CPC, and also a successful experiment in building Chinese socialism.

社會主義市場經濟體制

社會主義市場經濟體制是同社會主義基本制度結合在一起的。實現社會主義基本制度與市場經濟的有機結合，把社會主義的制度優勢和市場經濟配置資源的優勢都發揮好，是堅持和發展中國特色社會主義一項極其重要的內容，也是改革開放以來中國經濟發展獲得巨大成功的一個關鍵因素。40多年來，中國經濟體制改革最主要的內容就是社會主義市場經濟體制從探索到建立再到不斷完善的過程，其核心是理順政府與市場的關系。

建立社會主義市場經濟體制，是中國共產黨領導下的中國改革開放實踐的必然結果，也是改革開放以來中國特色社會主義理論探索的重要成果。以1978年中共十一屆三中全會的召開為標志，中國走上改革開放的道路，實際上就是開啟了以市場為取向的改革。1981年中共十一屆六中全會通過的《關于建國以來黨的若干歷史問題的決議》提出“以計劃經濟為主，市場調節為輔”的理論。按照尊重和利用價值規律的要求來進行經濟活動已開始成為人們的共識，現實經濟活動也逐步納入了真正意義上的商品經濟的發展軌道。在此基礎上，1987年中共十三大提出，社會主義有計劃商品經濟的體制應該是計劃與市場內在統一的體制。

1992年中共十四大提出中國經濟體制改革的目標是建立社會主義市場經濟體制，這標志著中國共產黨把市場經濟寫在了社會主義的旗幟上。1993年，中共十四屆三中全會通過了《中共中央關于建立社會主義市場經濟體制若干問題的決定》。此后20多年時間里，中國一直在根據實踐尋找政府和市場關系新的科學定位。2013年中共十八屆三中全會提出，使市場在資源配置中起決定性作用，更好發揮政府作用，這說明全面深化經濟體制改革的核心問題仍然是處理好政府和市場的關系。2017年中共十九大進一步對加快完善社會主義市場經濟體制提出要求。2020年中共十九屆五中全會進一步明確，要堅持和完善社會主義基本經濟制度，充分發揮市場在資源配置中的決定性作用，更好發揮政府作用，推動有效市場和有為政府更好結合。

經過不斷探索和努力，中國已經建立起比較完善的社會主義市場經濟體制。這是一種史無前例的體制，也是中外經濟學經典中從來沒有過的一個概念。正因如此，社會主義市場經濟體制不僅是中國共產黨領導下中國特色社會主義的一次重大理論和實踐創新，也是中國特色社會主義道路探索中的一個偉大創舉。