Zhang Weiying is the co-founder of the National Institute of Development Studies of Peking University and the dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.
Zhang Weiying graduated from Northwest University, and then entered Oxford University for further study, after returning to China, he is committed to domestic economic reform, he is the first scholar in China to propose the idea of dual-track price reform, is a western recognized master of economics, and is also the first person in China to systematically introduce Western enterprises, including game theory and contract theory, into China. In the "Dispute of Zhang Lin" and the "Dispute of Lang Gu", it also played an important role.
But he has also been caught in a storm of public opinion because of "academic qualifications falsification"; he has become an "enemy of the people" because of the sentence "officials are the interest groups most damaged in the reform". Zhang Weiying was once considered a controversial economist.
What kind of family has made Zhang Weiying?
Zhang Weiying was born in a peasant family, and at that time the village was still a "big bag". In his memory, hunger is the deepest memory of childhood. From childhood to adulthood, Zhang Weiying's grades are among the best in the class, and Zhang Weiying's parents have always attached great importance to the issue of their children's schooling. So after the state resumed the college entrance examination in 1977, with the support of his family, Zhang Weiying was admitted to Northwest University.
Northwestern University has been called "the cradle of young economists." Here, Northwestern University has contributed several heavyweights to the Chinese economy, and Zhang Weiying is one of them. Because of Zhang Weiying's rural experience, he has a better understanding of the living conditions in the countryside, and in order to solve rural problems, this makes him study more eagerly in school.
The first national annual conference on quantitative economics in February 1982 was the first public stage for young Zhang Weiying, and this meeting was a turning point in his path of economics. This meeting also made him acquainted with Mao Yushi, Yang Xiaokai and others, and was like-minded, providing great help for his future development path.
The 1984 Moganshan Conference was the starting point for China's decision to break the planned price merger, and price reform was the most hotly debated topic at this conference. Zhang Weiying systematically discussed the "price dual-track system" at the meeting, and he successfully persuaded the crowd to make the "price dual-track system" an official policy.
The "dual-track price system" is a special product of china's economic development transformation, which avoids the drastic price changes that occur in the transformation of the planned economy into a market economy. However, with the deepening of reform, the drawbacks of the "dual-track price system" have become more and more prominent.
The rent-seeking behavior and the phenomenon of "inverting the grandfather" that appeared with the "dual-track price system" were things that Zhang Weiying could not have imagined. As a socialist country, China's reform today can be said to be "crossing the river by feeling the stones." With regard to the shortcomings that have arisen in the course of our country's reform, we can only constantly correct and make progress. With the continuous development of China's economy, in the 1990s, the "dual-track price system" gradually withdrew from the stage of history. What followed was a new situation and new problems in economic reform. The "Zhang Lin Controversy", which has aroused heated discussion in 16 years, is a microcosm of it.
In 2016, Zhang Weiying and economist Lin Yifu launched a fierce debate on issues related to China's industrial policy, and this debate also caused heated discussion on the Internet, and even attracted the attention of the National Development and Reform Commission, which people called the "Zhang Lin controversy".
If you really count the "Zhang Lin controversy", their controversy can be said to span a full 21 years. In 1995, zhang Weiying and Lin Yifu also had a fierce debate over the direction of state-owned enterprise reform, and this controversy in 2016 can be regarded as a continuation of the academic dispute between the two.
The debate between Zhang Weiying and Lin Yifu in 2016 was essentially a debate about the market and the government. Some even believe that this debate will be related to "China's future and destiny." After Zhang Weiying put forward the view that "industrial policy is doomed to failure", Lin Yifu pointed out that "industrial policy is indispensable in both developed and developing countries." The two debated the issue twice
Zhang Weiying and Lin Yifu had their first debate on whether to abolish industrial policy. First of all, Zhang Weiying proposed that industrial policy is nothing more than a planned economy wearing a vest, and the proposal of industrial policy not only hinders the development of entrepreneurship and market economy to a large extent, but also after the industrial policy is proposed, there are few successful cases.
At the same time, due to the limited cognitive ability of human beings and the distortion of incentive mechanisms, the failure of industrial policy is inevitable. Second, Zhang Weiying believes that innovation is a process full of uncertainty, and we cannot calculate the odds of its success. Therefore, innovation is unforeseeable, and it can be said that industrial policy is a big gamble.
Third, due to government limitations, government officials are more concerned about how to avoid personal responsibility in the process of implementing industrial policy. Industrial policy gives the industry the opportunity to cover up its mistakes, which gives all government-supported industries the opportunity to never stop without smashing. And it brings rent-seeking and corruption.
In response to Zhang Weiying's point of view, Lin Yifu believes that industrial policy cannot be opposed in all. He pointed out that economists should not be afraid of failure and oppose industrial policy. The combination of "efficient markets" and "promising governments" can better improve the level of labor productivity.
In a market economy, there must be "the first entrepreneur to eat crabs", and industrial policy gives incentives to "the first entrepreneurs to eat crabs", prompting entrepreneurs to have the enthusiasm to take this risk. Similarly, the implementation of industrial policies also needs to focus on industries with potential advantages.
In the second debate, Zhang Weiying made four mistakes about Lin Yifu's views, namely, that the lack of freedom leads to China's economic backwardness. Is there a contradiction between giving full play to comparative advantage and emphasizing the role of the government? Is there a contradiction between entrepreneurship and industrial policy? Are individual freedoms violated by national development strategies? And Lin Yifu also refuted this one by one.
In response to the controversy between the two, many scholars have also expressed their opinions. Nie Huihua pointed out that it is the problem to find the optimal edge of industrial policy, and he also believes that the argument between Zhang Lin and Zhang Lin is actually a false proposition. Fu Xiaolan asked in response to the debate between the two, "Is there still a place for industrial policy in this era?" "Why can't industrial policy be completely negated?" What is the purpose of its existence today? It also points out the serious shortcomings in today's research on industrial policy.
In this highly concerned controversy, the media once turned against Zhang Weiying and once suppressed Lin Yifu. However, according to the data, nearly half of the netizens are more inclined to Lin Yifu's views.
In Zhang Weiying's ideological discourse, entrepreneur is an inseparable word. When he was at Northwestern University, Zhang Weiying once wrote an article called "Justifying the Name of Money", in which Zhang Weiying mentioned, "Whoever earns more money means that the more he contributes to society." Because of this article, Zhang Weiying was refuted from all sides, and even affected graduation.
More than twenty years later, Zhang Weiying once again put forward his views on "money", in the speeches of "gentlemen" and "villains" in the economy, he started from people's self-interest, proposed to seek their own interests without harming the interests of others, to get more money, he said, this is what he considers "gentlemen".
After putting forward this point of view again, Zhang Weiying received a completely different reaction from the original. In today's internet age, everyone has a microphone and can express their opinions, which makes people more inclusive of more ideas. Now that we look at Zhang Weiying's view of "Justifying the Name of Money", there is much less criticism of it.
In recent years, there have been many controversies about Zhang Weiying, who are usually sharp and straightforward. Regarding the remarks on the Internet, Zhang Weiying said: Not many people have read his books in their entirety, and they often refute themselves because of their only words.
Zhang Weiying himself does have many controversies, but we cannot completely ignore and negate his contribution to the practice of China's economic reform because of these controversies. Practice is the only criterion for testing truth, and the correctness of his views needs to be tested through practice.