Huang Taiyan, dean of Minzu University of China, reports the hot topics of Chinese economics. Photo: XINHUA

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What were the most frequent research paper topics for Chinese economics in 2018? The results were released in Beijing at a recent press conference held by a group of organizations such as the School of Economics at Minzu University of China, the Institute for Economic Reform and Development of China at Renmin University of China and the Economic Science Press.

To select the hot topics of Chinese economics research, the project group targeted the top 20 CSSCI (Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index) economic journals between 2017 and 2018 recognized by the Institute for Chinese Social Sciences Research and Assessment under the Ministry of Education. Then, it narrowed down the samples to 15 in the hope of balancing the distribution of secondary disciplines under the two first-level disciplines, theoretical economics and applied economics. Their selections included Economic Research Journal, The Journal of World Economy, China Economic Quarterly, China Rural Survey, Journal of Finance and Economics, Industrial Economic Research and Economic Review. Since some journals in other fields also cover economic studies, the research group made the samples more inclusive and representative by adding four other journals: Social Sciences in China, Management World, Studies on Marxism and the Journal of Renmin University of China. Thus, the final samples totaled 19.

The researchers categorized the 1,825 papers published in these 19 journals in 2018 by topic, based on which they worked out the ten areas of Chinese economics that had grabbed the most academic attention in terms of paper writing. The top three research focuses were economic growth and development, independent innovation, and capital markets. Other research hotspots included industrial structure and policy, income distribution and discrepancy, and the “three rural issues” associated with agriculture, the countryside and farmers. Scholars and experts also looked at such branches as foreign trade and policy, Marxist economics and its sinicization, the reform of economic structure, and financial order and security.

These ten research topics share several similarities. They target the theoretical and practical issues put forward by the Central Economic Work Conference in recent years. The targeted economic papers work on how to sustain growth, promote reform, and adjust structure while benefiting the people and preventing risks. Their research methods are problem-oriented, trying to find the way to achieve high-quality development and a modern economic system. They aim to take root in the Chinese circumstances and sinicize Marxist economics, thus building a theoretical framework of political economics with Chinese characteristics. Different from previous years, these academic articles commemorate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up and draw on experiences from that period. Such lessons will supply guidance for the comprehensive deepening of reform in the new era.

The research group was led by Professor Huang Taiyan, dean of Minzu University of China. In 2003, Huang and his fellows started to analyze popular topics of Chinese economics by statistical means. Meanwhile, their annual research report “Frontier Hot topics of Chinese Economics” has been published by the Economic Science Press for the past 16 years.

 

This article was translated from Xinhua.

(edited by MA YUHONG)