A Comparative Study On The Consumption Structure Of Urban And Rural Residents In China

Consumption, export and investment have been the "troika" to drive the sustainable development of China’s economy for a long time. But more precisely, the main driving forces for China’s economic growth are investment and net export, and consumption has always been the short board. To play the role of consumption in changing the economy growing mode and adjusting the economic structure, and deal with the actual situation of continued weakness in international demand, China has launched and implemented a number of initiatives. However, the expansion of total consumption demand is clearly helpless for structural transformation and structural optimization, and also not a fundamental solution to the structural imbalance. Meanwhile, long-time overuse of demand management and relevant policies has gradually decreased the efficiency, like a spent force. What is more worthy of our attention is that the potential risks caused by demand stimulus are gradually increasing. "Mismatch of supply and demand" has become the biggest obstacle to the sustainable growth of China’s economy. Therefore, it is very important to promote the effective demand growth from improvement of supply side through deeply understanding the consumption structure of urban and rural residents in China. Based on a brief review of consumption structure theory, the paper conducts a systematic study and comparative analysis on the consumption structure of urban and rural residents in China mainly in statistical analysis methods and econometric methods and AIDS model(almost ideal demand system model). The paper mainly includes five parts: the first part introduces the study background and meaning,summarizes the researches at home and abroad, illustrates study content and puts forward technology roadmap, etc. The second part introduces relevant theory fundamentals and study methods of consumption structure. On the basis of mass statistical data, the third part systematically and comprehensively compares the changing trend of consumption level and structure of urban and rural residents, and analyzes the influential factors of the difference. The fourth part explains the source and processing of the data in this paper, and analyzes the empirical results, first one by oneand then comparatively. The fifth part draws the conclusion, gives some countermeasures and suggestions accordingly, and looks forward to the future research direction.Main conclusion of the paper: With the development of China’s economy for the two decades, the income and consumption level of China’s urban and rural residents has been significantly improved, but the consumption propensity is relatively low.According to the change of Engel’s coefficient, China’s urban and rural residents have entered the stage of prosperity, their consumption structure has improved a lot, the focus of consumption has been developed from the basic need of life to the pursuit of enjoyment, their consumption demand for entertainment and education, transportation and communications, healthcare and other service industry is increasing. The imbalance of real estate market also impacts residents’ housing consumption. According to the empirical results, we found that there was a big difference in the expenditure and own price elasticity of demand for different consumer goods between urban and rural residents. Therefore, in the formulation of relevant policies, it is necessary to analyze different consumption items one by one, deeply understand urban and rural residents’ demand for different consumer goods, effectively solve the problem of mismatch of supply and demand, and make efforts to promote the “structural reform of supply side”,making the supply system more adaptable to the change of demand structure, achieving mutual connection and good coordination of both supply and demand sides and realizing the sustainable and healthy development of China’s economy.According to the conclusion of the study, the paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for improving consumption propensity, solving the mismatch of supply and demand, stimulating market power to raise the investment rate and stabilizing residents’ housing consumption and other aspects.