ABSTRACT
The urgent task of combining anti-epidemic measures with restoring economic activity was the most important focus for Chinese economists up to mid-2020. The main research topic was the growth rates required to meet the national goal of overcoming extreme poverty in 2021. China rapidly entered the post-COVID-19 era. Economists began to discuss the future of globalisation and the sustainability of global value chains. In the context of the normative concept of 'the profound changes unseen in a century', COVID-19 was interpreted as one of the multiple factors driving these changes. Economists took an active part in preparing a new five-year plan of socioeconomic development. Xi Jinping's meeting with leading Chinese economists in August 2020 was of great symbolic significance, since it highlighted the prestige of the profession in the eyes of the authorities. The new policy of 'dual circulation' responded to the effects of the pandemic and the deteriorating external economic environment. In 2021 Chinese economists focused on this policy, along with the tasks involved in the long-term development of China's economy and how to achieve 'the second centenary goal' of comprehensive national modernisation by the middle of the century. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
The article examines the contribution of Chinese economists to adjustment of reforms strategy under the influence of “post-epidemic consensus”. In early 2020, economists supported official policy of strict lockdowns and mobilization approach in fighting coronavirus, they proposed measures to restore economic activity. After the control over the epidemic was established, scholars focused on analyzing the global impact of the coronavirus crisis and on adjusting China’s development strategy to changed external conditions. Chinese leader Xi Jinping set the guidelines while the economists provided in-depth analysis of particular problems of national development. To understand the Chinese economic discourse, it is important to take into account not only scholarly publications but also the commentaries of Chinese economists on important policy decisions. These commentaries, though little-known outside China, provide scholars an opportunity to communicate their key ideas to the society. The article analyzes both forms of participation of Chinese economists in the discussion on development strategies after the pandemic. The problems of compatibility of anti-crisis measures with long-term development plans have acquired great importance along with searches for responses to de-globalization of the world economy. Scholars paid attention to the new topic of comparative study of economic aspects of suppressing the epidemic in China and other countries with focus on institutional and cultural factors. The preference of domestic economic circulation motivated scholars to assess possible negative impacts of loosened ties with outside world upon the policy of innovation-driven development. The priorities of national economic policy kept the commitment to supply-side structural reform as the “main line” while simultaneously implementing epidemic prevention and supporting social and economic development. Reform guidelines that were updated in 2020– 2021 taking into account the lessons of the fight against the epidemic in China and in the world will keep influence in the years to come. © 2022, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.