A Study On Chen Ting's Capital Formation Thoughts

Chen Ting(1919-2011)was an overseas student studying Development Economics in the United States at the end of the Republic of China.He graduated from Harvard University at the same time as Pei Kang Chang,a famous development economist.Chen Ting academic course of Development Economics coincides with the rise of the early subject of Development Economics.He specializes in the accumulation of industrial capital in foreign countries,and his thoughts of economic development is mainly concentrated in this aspect.As his doctoral thesis,Industrialization,Capital Formation and Internal Savings--With Special Reference to the Postwar Industrialization of China was completed in 1945.After returning to China,he invested in the first-line economic construction,made great achievements in politics,and continued to discuss the formation of capital.Taking Chen Ting thought of capital formation as the main line,this paper mainly investigates Chen Ting relevant academic works and comments published during the period from1945 to the founding of New China in 1949 in the Department of Economics of Harvard University.This paper is divided into five parts: the introduction introduces the research background and significance,the related literature review,Chen Ting life experience;The first chapter first introduces the origin of Chen Ting thought of capital formation.Under the influence of the early western Development Economics,Chen Ting formed the thought of attaching importance to capital formation,and produced a basic understanding of the process of capital deepening and popularization.The second chapter introduces Chen Ting estimation of the scale of capital formation in China industrialization and expansion,which also includes the estimation of the proportion of output value and population change of each industry.The core part of this chapter is,Through the experience of developed countries and China special national conditions,Chen Ting puts forward the expected target that annual savings account for 16% of national income.In order to meet the 16% savings-income ratio target mentioned in Chapter II,the third chapter introduces Chen Ting capital accumulation methods,including mild credit expansion,improved taxation and external financing.The third chapter is the core thought of Chen Ting on the accumulation of industrial capital in developing countries,and it is also the core part of this paper.In the general direction,Chen Ting divides theway of capital formation according to the domestic and foreign sources.His attitude towards foreign capital is not only to recognize its importance,but also to maintain a high degree of vigilance.Therefore,in general,Chen Ting emphasized the internal accumulation of the main,foreign capital as a supplementary.The last chapter is the analysis of Chen Ting thought of economic development,according to the introduction and analysis of Chen Ting thought in the previous chapters.The author summarizes the characteristics of Chen Ting thought of Development Economics,which can be summarized as absorbing the basic viewpoints of the pioneers of early Development Economics and linking the western theory with the reality of China.Finally,Chen Ting not only paid attention to the national conditions and people's livelihood,carried forward the national self-confidence,but also stood on the ideological height of pursuing international equality when exploring the formation of capital.Chen Ting realized that the biggest obstacle to production and construction in underdeveloped countries was the shortage of capital,gave full play to his knowledge of western learning and attached importance to the reality of China,and put forward all kinds of powerful suggestions to solve the problem of capital shortage.On the one hand,his study on capital formation is the focus of early Development Economics,which contributed to the academic theory of early Development Economics.On the other hand,he pursues balanced and comprehensive economic growth rather than blindly large-scale investment,is concerned with the living standards of the people at the bottom,and carries forward the national self-confidence that big countries should have in the way of capital formation.Chen Ting research on capital formation played a pioneering role in the Development Economics,and also contributed to solving the biggest problems in the developing countries after the war.