In order to promote the research on the theory and practical problems of socialist prices with Chinese characteristics in the new era, enhance the understanding and concern of all sectors of society for the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award", promote the attention and support of price theory policy research, price reform and innovation, and encourage friends engaged in price work to actively contribute and actively participate in the selection of the 9th "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award", so as to continuously deepen the innovation of price theory and practice, on April 11, the China Price Association held a press conference to introduce the "Xue Weiqiao Price Research Award" Selection of relevant information.
Lu Mingliang, president of the China Price Association, first introduced the important historical and practical significance of the establishment of the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award".
As the highest award in the field of price research in mainland China, the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" has gone through 28 years since its establishment in 1996, the first award ceremony held in 1998, and the successful holding of the eighth selection in 2021.
Lu Mingliang said that the establishment of the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" is a commemoration of the outstanding contributions of the older generation of revolutionaries and reform pioneers, as well as the inheritance and development of the character, thought and spirit of the predecessors.
Xue Weiqiao realized early on that the development of the economy requires the establishment of a price system that floats freely in the midst of competition, and resolutely advocated "breaking the rigid price system" and realizing the reform of the price system. As the first generation of socialist economists and senior economic officials in New China, Xue Weiqiao "believed in commodities and the market", and in the early 80s of the last century, he proposed that China's reform should be market-oriented, which was very advanced, and required not only a pragmatic and truth-seeking academic spirit, but also a rare political courage.
In June 1996, the former State Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Civil Affairs approved the establishment of the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" in order to carry forward Comrade Xue Weiqiao's noble character of being loyal to the party, upholding the truth, having the courage to explore, and serving the people wholeheartedly, as well as his attitude of closely integrating theory with practice, to promote the prosperity of price theory and policy research, and to cultivate outstanding talents with both theoretical attainment and practical experience, so as to better serve price regulation, control, and price reform. In August 2015, with the approval of the central leading comrades, the Office of the National Appraisal and Commendation Work Coordination Group announced that the project would be retained, sponsored by the China Price Association, and the selection cycle was three years.
From 1998 to 2021, the 8th "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" selected a number of outstanding theoretical research, policy research and practical innovation achievements, and a number of research results have played an important role in the practice of price reform, price regulation and price supervision, and a group of well-known experts, scholars and outstanding price workers have emerged. These award-winning books and papers grasp the context of economic development, focus on the difficult problems of price reform, adhere to the problem-oriented, adhere to the integration of theory with practice, and insist on advancing with the times and pioneering and innovating. There are eight that stand out overall:
The first is to give prominence to theoretical research. In the process of reforming the traditional planned economic system and shifting to a socialist market economy, theoretical innovation and guidance are particularly important. In 1998, the first "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" fully reflected the requirements of the times, and a large number of theoretical research results based on practical exploration entered the list of winners. Among the ten award-winning monographs, there are five or six theoretical research results, such as Zhang Zhuoyuan et al.'s "Theory and Practice of China's Price Model Transformation", as well as "Theory of Macroeconomic Price Control", "Introduction to Fee Management", "Price Science", "New Theory of Market Price" and other works. At the same time, the previous award-winning monographs have attached great importance to drawing lessons from history, and some monographs on price history and price reform have frequently won awards.
The second is to highlight the overall reform. In the process of reforming the price system and building the price mechanism, the overall idea and reform countermeasures are particularly important. In the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award", a large number of comprehensive reform research and reform countermeasure works have been frequently awarded. The first award-winning papers focused on the discussion of "Discussion on the Formulation of "Plan First, Price Second" and "Gradually Realizing Who Operates and Who Sets Prices". The second award-winning monograph began to study price reform from the perspective of system and mechanism, such as "Further Promoting Price Reform and Improving the Socialist Market Economy" and "Discussion on the Establishment of the Price System and Price Operation Mechanism of the Socialist Market Economy on the Mainland". The same was true for subsequent editions. The 8th paper "The General Idea and Key Tasks of Further Deepening the Price Reform to Meet the Requirements of the Construction of a Modern Economic System" and so on, further carried out the overall price reform and overall design research from the height of building a modern economic system.
The third is to highlight key areas. With the advancement of reform, monopoly industries, public utilities, and public services have gradually become the focus of reform. Price research has gradually extended to key areas, key links and key issues, and has become a very important section of the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award". The first award-winning works began to study the reform of coal, crude oil and electricity prices, the second studied the price mechanism and price reform of railway freight rates, urban public utilities and monopoly industries, and the third expanded to the reform of natural gas pipeline transportation, urban water prices and telecommunications tariffs. In the following years, more attention was paid to professional and technical research, such as coal power price linkage, engineering water supply price, transmission and distribution price, wind power and photovoltaic power generation, and road toll research. The 8th award-winning paper highlights the top-level design of the price mechanism, the coordinated promotion of reform, and the effective incentive of price reform.
Fourth, highlight resources and environment. The 11th Five-Year Plan proposes to "establish a price formation mechanism that reflects market supply and demand and the scarcity of resources", and the 12th Five-Year Plan further includes the cost of environmental damage. Since the fourth session, the research on resource and environmental prices has continued to become a hot topic. The fourth award-winning paper put forward the "Basic Ideas for the Price Reform of Resource Products", and Jiangsu and Zhejiang took the lead in studying the price of sulfur dioxide emission rights, the compensation mechanism of water resources, and the compensation of ecological funds in the east and west. The Fifth Session further studied the "Mainland Water Resources Fee Collection Standards" and "Garbage Disposal Fee System". The award-winning papers in the following editions were further deepened and expanded, including the pricing mechanism of depletable energy, the price assessment of forest resource assets, the price adjustment of energy conservation and emission reduction, the trading and price management of emission rights, the supervision of environmental protection charges, and the calculation of water resource fees (taxes).
Fifth, highlight people's livelihood concerns. The price issue is closely related to people's lives, whether it is rice bags, vegetable baskets, or the impact of inflation, the "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" focuses on people's livelihood price research from multiple dimensions. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, research on the prices of medicines, medical services, and important livelihood commodities has become the focus of awards. In the 6th session, 7 papers including "Research on Improving the Drug Price Management System" were awarded, 5 papers including "Drug Price Evaluation Mechanism" and "Innovative Drug Price Formation Mechanism and Management Mechanism" were awarded in the 7th session, and 5 papers including "Ideas and Countermeasures for Improving the Price Regulation Mechanism of Important People's Livelihood Commodities in the New Era", "Research on Improving the Supervision System of Housing Rental Market" and "Research on the Price of Medical Services in Chongqing, Sichuan and Fujian" were awarded.
Sixth, highlight price control. To develop a market economy, government price regulation and control is of utmost importance. The "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" selected a large number of important monographs, such as the second "Macroeconomic Factors and the General Price Level", the third "Price Mechanism in Economic Transition", the fourth "On the Regulation and Control of the General Price Level", "The Logic of China's Factor Price Reform", the seventh "The Multiple Logic of China's Inflation Dynamic Formation Mechanism", and the eighth "Price Reform and Supply Stability and Price Stability". In addition, it continues to deepen its methodology, such as "Price Analysis: Thinking and Methods", "Price Monitoring Methods and Case Analysis" and other monographs. At the same time, a lot of explorations have been made on how to improve the price policy and the government's scientific pricing, such as "Research on the Performance Evaluation of Price Policy", "Research on the Scientific Mechanism of Government Price Decision-making", "Research on the Defects, Implementation Deviations and Countermeasures of the Mainland Pricing Hearing System", "Research on Several Issues in the Supervision and Examination of Pricing Costs", etc.
Seventh, highlight price supervision. Market pricing and government supervision are important directions for the transformation of government functions in the process of moving towards a market economy. The study of price regulation has become a highlight of the "Xue Weiqiao Price Research Award". First of all, we should pay attention to the reform and supervision of government administrative fees. For example, the current situation and nature of administrative fees, the reform of the mainland fee system, the theory and legislation of administrative fees, etc. Second, price monopoly and unfair price behaviors have entered the regulatory field. From the initial dumping at low prices and competition at low prices, to unfair price behaviors such as price hike and collusion, to price monopoly and anti-monopoly law enforcement, behavior supervision has become the focus. Third, the study of regulatory law enforcement rules has been continuously strengthened. Since the third session, a large number of papers have been awarded awards, such as strengthening market price supervision from the height of maintaining price order, market price behavior legislation, innovation of modern price supervision concept, clear price marking system, and revision of administrative punishment regulations for price violations.
Eighth, highlight the international vision. Since the reform and opening up, the mainland's price problems have also been affected by globalization, especially for commodities such as oil and iron ore. At the same time, there are many experiences to learn from in market economy countries, and an open mind and an open vision are very important for price research. In the first and sixth sessions, there were two monographs: "Foreign-related Prices and International Market Prices" and "Research on the International Pricing of China's Bulk Imported Materials". At the same time, a large number of papers have won awards, such as international commodity price fluctuations and their impact on the price level of the mainland, and the price control and reference of public utilities in the United States.
Nowadays, with more than 97% of the prices of goods and services being formed by the market, there is a misunderstanding in society, that is, ignoring the theoretical value and practical significance of price research. Lu Mingliang believes that in fact, the price mechanism is the core of the market economy, and reforming the traditional government pricing and government control is a crucial step in the process of shifting from a planned economy to a market economy, but the formation of a price mechanism that is compatible with the development of the market economy is not spontaneous, and it is necessary to continuously deepen reform and innovate and improve in practice.
"At present, the price issue is still an important issue in economic and social development, which is related to the healthy operation of the market economy and the high-quality development of the mainland economy. Whether it is the traditional monopoly field, monopoly link, or important public utilities and public service fields, the price issue and the charging issue are still the focus of social attention. In particular, in the development of platform economy, digital economy and low-carbon economy, pricing rules and price formation mechanisms have shown many new characteristics, and many new topics have been put forward for price theory, price policy and price regulation. Lu Mingliang said.
This year is the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a key year for the development of new quality productive forces, the comprehensive promotion of Chinese-style modernization, and the realization of high-quality development, and the 120th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Xue Weiqiao. In order to do a good job in the selection and commendation of high level and high quality, the China Price Association said that it will focus on five aspects:
First, we must improve our political position. The selection of the 9th "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" should be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the new development concept completely, accurately and comprehensively, with the theme of paying tribute to masters, inheriting the spirit and promoting innovation, focusing on the price issues in economic and social development, focusing on the overall, forward-looking, and focused theoretical and practical issues, adhering to the principles of openness, fairness, and justice, and selecting a group of ideological, innovative, and innovative companies for government departments, universities, scientific research institutions, and enterprises. Practical and excellent research results, especially the theoretical and practical achievements of implementing the spirit and deployment of the 18th, 19th and 20th National Congresses of the Communist Party of China.
Second, it is necessary to serve the overall situation of development. The main focus of this year's selection is as follows: First, the research on the price theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The second is to promote the study of major price issues involved in the process of Chinese-style modernization. The third is the study of major price issues involved in the healthy operation of the market economy. Fourth, research on price regulation and price supervision innovation in response to emergencies such as the epidemic. Fifth, price research carried out using new ideas and new tools, as well as comparative research on international price theory and practice.
Third, it is necessary to face all sectors of society. The selection scope of this year's "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" is aimed at the society engaged in price theory research and price workers, including government departments, university research institutions and enterprises, including the achievements in various fields such as economy, law, and social governance, hoping to recognize, understand and study the major price problems in the market economy from more dimensions.
From June 2021 to June 2024, this year's call for papers and monographs on price at home and abroad, as well as research reports on price theory and reform and innovation practice, will be held from June 2021 to June 2024. At the same time, considering the results of price research, it is necessary to test it over time and in practice. In particular, it is emphasized that since the reform and opening up, there are indeed unique insights and fruitful results, and the research results and special reports that have not participated in the previous awards can also be applied for this time.
Fourth, it is necessary to highlight the orientation of public welfare. The "Xue Weiqiao Price Research Award" is a public welfare award, and the cost of the selection activities such as the prize money comes from the "Xue Weiqiao Price Research Award" fund, and no participation fee is charged. For the winning papers, certificates and cash prizes will be awarded to the winners for encouragement.
In accordance with the principles of integrity, innovation, truth-seeking and pragmatism, and adhering to the principles of high quality, high level, and preferring shortage to indiscriminate, this year's award has set a certain flexible range on the basis of the number of awards in the 8th session. The "Paper Award" is divided into first, second and third prizes, with 3-5 first prizes, 5-10 second prizes, and 10-15 third prizes. No more than 5 books will be awarded. In this way, it is not mandatory to reach the corresponding number in order to select the truly excellent works.
Fifth, we must adhere to fairness and justice. In order to carry out the award selection activities in an open, fair, just and rigorous manner, the China Price Association invited the comrades of the relevant departments and bureaus of the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Health Insurance Administration, as well as experts and scholars from famous universities and scientific research institutions, to set up the organizing committee for the selection and commendation of the 9th "Xue Weiqiao Price Research Award". At the same time, Zhu Zhixin, director of the Academic Committee of the National Development and Reform Commission and former executive deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, was specially invited to serve as the director of the Organizing Committee of the 9th "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award", and Comrade Zhang Zhuoyuan, a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a famous economist, was invited to serve as the deputy director of the organizing committee.
The China Price Association said that the organizing committee will study and improve the evaluation procedures, evaluation standards and evaluation methods, and invite experts and scholars in the fields of economics and law to form a review expert group to participate in the review of the papers from July 2024. In October, the 9th "Xue Duqiao Price Research Award" Award and Commendation Conference and Xue Duqiao Economic Thought and Price Reform and Innovation Seminar will be held.