"Secret" Behind The "Price Comparison Between China And The United States"

It is necessary to compare prices between China and the United States, but this is only consumption. market A part of consumption structure, consumption environment and income structure comparison and reference is more important. It can be expected that with the gradual reduction of the Engel coefficient, the structure of social needs will undergo significant changes, and the service prices in China will show an upward trend. Without considering other factors, it is very likely that China's prices will generally surpass that of the United States.

The recent comparison of prices between China and the United States, which is highly concerned by the society, reflects the current situation of the society. price The rising discontent, in essence, reflects a hidden danger of the transformation of China's development mode, exposing the various constraints that China faces as a major consumer country.

Whether expanding domestic demand, especially expanding consumer demand, is the key to decide whether China can effectively transform the way of economic development in the next 5-10 years. Some experts expect that by 2020, the total market size of China's consumer goods will reach US $15 trillion and 940 billion, which is nearly 10 times the total scale of the current consumer market. If this expectation can be established, it will not only stimulate China. Economics The driving force of growth will also be a powerful driving force for world economic growth.

However, to turn this expectation into reality and expand consumption inevitably involves a series of problems in the consumer market. These factors include real income factors, including consumption structure, consumption environment and income structure. Therefore, to compare the consumption market of two countries and predict the scale of China's future consumer market, it is more important to compare the other structural factors of the whole consumer market in addition to comparing the ratio of income to price.

First, the factors of consumption structure should not be ignored. The consumption structure of China and the United States is quite different, which makes the price of individual commodities short of macro guiding significance.

In 2005, the American resident Engel coefficient was only 13.74%, while the Chinese urban and rural residents' Engel coefficient was 35.7% and 41.1% respectively in 2010. Different consumption structure directly reflects the different needs of residents in different countries. In the United States, residents demand more services, which include relatively high prices for hairdressing and housekeeping services. This also makes the service industry account for more than GDP70% and become the main industry of the US national economy.

In China, the demand of residents is more commodities. When the cost of human services is obviously lower than that of the developed countries, the price of the service industry is relatively cheap, which also causes the proportion of the service industry to linger around 40% for many years.

Therefore, the price comparison between the two countries is difficult to explain without considering the difference of consumption structure. It can be expected that with the gradual reduction of the Engel coefficient, the structure of social needs will undergo significant changes, and the service prices in China will show an upward trend. Without considering other factors, it is very likely that China's prices will generally surpass that of the United States. Under such circumstances, it will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the release of consumption potential.

Second, the difference of consumption environment is the most important. The biggest difference between China and the United States is not the price, but the consumption environment. Objectively speaking, China's consumption environment has not improved in recent years, but has deteriorated in some respects. Take food safety as an example, from milk powder to pork, from additives to * gutter oil, emerge in endlessly, and frequently appear repeatedly, exposing the serious absence of consumer market regulation.

In the first half of this year, foreign milk powder imported more than last year, which has both price factors, but more domestic consumers lose some trust factors to some domestic products. Under the condition that the Engel coefficient of China is relatively high, the food safety problem can not be effectively solved, and ultimately the consumption potential of the market is damaged.

In the United States, consumption generally does not need to consider food safety. People have enough confidence in the food sold in the market. Transposition thinking, if food safety and other problems in the consumption link can not be effectively solved, even if China's actual price level is lower than that of the United States, China's consumer market is still difficult to expand, and the huge consumption potential will be suppressed by the difficult consumption environment.

Third, the income structure is an important factor restricting the expansion of consumption. American labor remuneration is basically stable at around 55%, which means that most of the national wealth of the United States is enjoyed by laborers at the initial stage of distribution. The proportion of Chinese laborers' remuneration has been decreasing since 2000, down to 39.7% in 2007, and by 12 percentage points in 7 years, and laborers' share in wealth sharing has been decreasing gradually, and the result is that the potential of the consumer market has been suppressed.

It is necessary to compare prices between China and the United States, but this is only a part of the consumer market. The comparison and reference of consumption structure, consumption environment and income structure are more important. Focusing on expanding consumption, what China needs to do is to control the speed of price rise as soon as possible. In the medium and long term, we need to accelerate the process of structural optimization in structural reform, and make an effort to improve consumption structure, consumption environment and income structure.