Quantitative Economics in China

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Preface

Quantitative economic research refers to the research of quantitative manifestations, quantitative relations, quantitative changes and laws as well as quantitative analytical methods of the economy (especially economic-mathematical methods). Marxist economics has always attached a great importance to the quantitative research of economics. During the current socialist modernization, approaching the issue of quantitative economic research is of significance to both the development of economic sciences and the improvement of economic work…

In March 1979, the First Colloquium of the Chinese Society of Technology Economy (CSTE) was held. A group of 18 experts who participated in this colloquium and discussed issues related to the application of advanced mathematics and computing to economic research and management. They agreed that “economic-mathematical method” should be the proper name of the research field, but not of the discipline (or a school). As for what the new name should be, opinions differed vastly. Out of the dozen of names initially proposed, three were most favored: Econometrics, economic systematology and quantitative economy. Finally, quantitative economy was adopted as the new name of this discipline which was further changed into quantitative economics in 1984.

It is by no means an easy task to name a discipline or a school which involves a series of issues such as research objects, methods, contents and systems. Opinions can be divergent for a long time. For instance, although statistics is a fairly old discipline, it is still undecided whether it is one discipline or several disciplines and disputes remain on its research objects. Given the youth of our quantitative economics, many problems are to be further discussed.

The development of quantitative economic theory and methods in China boasts a history of 30 or 40 years, during which, many research findings of theoretical and practical value have been produced. However, up till now, research on major basic theoretical issues such as its research objects and knowledge system and the relationship between quantitative economics and relevant disciplines is insufficient. The reason why these issues are important is that they influence the existence of quantitative economics as an independent discipline and the development path of quantitative economic theory and practice. The reason why they are basic is that all research on quantitative economic theory and methods must begin with a clarification of them and the development and application of quantitative economics is impossible unless these issues are addressed…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Data Collection and Processing
• Empirical Analysis
• Conclusions and Suggestions
• Bibliography

In its early days, game theory was considered as a part of mathematical economics and operational research in mathematics. Its application sphere expands constantly and it has currently been applied to various fields of natural sciences and human and social sciences. In recent years, because of its sophisticated and innovative studies on human behaviors and the development of new theoretical branches of modern economics such as behavioral economics and experimental economics, game theory has made remarkable breakthroughs and has been widely used in China. The successful application of game theory which has brought significant results reflects the development of Chinese quantitative economics and reveals some new trends in it such as the reform of methodology caused by the refocalization of contemporary economics on behavior.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction and Early Development of Input–Output Analysis in China
• Compilation and Compiling Techniques of Chinese Input–Output Tables
• Progress in Theoretical and Applied Input–Output Research
• International Exchanges
• Future Development Prospects
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Factors of the Rapid Development of Econometrics in China
• Three Stages of Chinese Econometrics Teaching and Research
• Three Major Tasks Facing Our Teaching of Econometrics at Present
• Bibliography

Economic prediction, structural analysis and policy analysis are 3 applied fields of quantitative economics. In view of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics, let us have a review of the development of economic prediction in China.

The following sections are included:

• The Origin of Annual Forecast Model of Chinese Macro-Economy
• The Evolution of the Economic Forecast Model
• Analysis of Economic Forecast Results
• Reflections on the Economic Model and Forecast

The following sections are included:

• Literature Review
• One-Way Effect Causality Measure Theory
• Preliminary Analysis
• One-Way Effect Causality Analysis
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• 1979
• 1980
• 1982
• 1983
• 1984
• 1985
• 1986
• 1987
• 1988
• 1989
• 1990
• 1991
• 1992
• 1993
• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009

In the early 1990s, the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics has made game theory a major research direction for some time in the future. Professor Zhang Shouyi, the then President of the association was a Ph.D. supervisor, recruiting and training the first batch of doctors of economics that were engaged in game theory and its application to the Chinese economy…

In 1959, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the first to study the input–output method. The Operations Laboratory of Institute of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences set up an economic team in 1959, which was supported by Qian Xuesen and Hua Luogeng, 2 well-known Chinese mathematicians. The team consisted of 8 members namely Li Bingquan, Chen Xikang, Sun Keding, Zhou Huazhang, Guo Shaoxi, Xu Wenjing, Zhang Chuangu andYan Shuhai. Professor Hua Luogeng attended the oneweek seminar and discussed input–output technology with attendees half a day, every day…

The following sections are included:

• 1985
• 1986
• 1987
• 1988
• 1989
• 1990
• 1991
• 1992
• 1993
• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• 1997

On May 26, 2009, the 30th Anniversary Commemoration of the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics was held in Jiuhua MountainVilla in Changping District, Beijing, with the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics (CAQE) being the sponsor and Beijing Information Science and Technology University (BISTU) being the organizer. More than 40 representatives from universities, research organizations, and government offices attended the meeting…

Wang Weiguo: I am honored to be the host in the period of free discussion. At the 30th anniversary commemoration of the founding of the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics, we hope all the specialists and scholars have an open discussion and report the achievements in the past 30 years to Mr. Zhang Shouyi, Founder of the association, and Mr. Wang Tongsan, President of the association. In the development of Chinese quantitative economics, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has always been a main strength and direct contributor. In addition, colleges and universities are also very important. Let us first invite Dean Zhang from Jilin University to speak…

Why should we study quantitative economics? Why did we establish the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics? Actually, it has something to do with the current situation of economics in China. After the founding of the new China, economics in China basically relied on introduced research, which fell short in theoretic quantitative analysis. During the construction of China, in the economic field in particular, we were faced with huge and various tasks. Later, we came to realize that to have an effective management, our work should not be limited to just “what” and “why”, but to answer the question of “how many”, that is a matter of quantitative relations. Therefore, it is a necessary and urgent commission to carry out the quantitative economic research in not only theoretic studies, but also in economic management…

Thirty years have passed in a flash but things happened are still vivid in my mind. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics (CAQE), we sincerely welcome you to join us on this significant occasion…

Even the Penglai Island in Summer Palace could not escape from the intense heat of the summer in 1980. Despite this however, more than 100 people gathered there for the seven-week Econometrics Workshop in Summer Palace. Seven economic professors gave lectures, including Lawrence Klein, T.W. Anderson, A. Ando, Gregory Chow, Laurence Liu, Vincent Su and Cheng Hsiao. Veteran scholars likeWu Kejie from Nanjing University and Lin Shaogong from Central College of Engineering were also among the students. Though, this workshop seemed to be a crash course or a literacy class for most of the students. Taking account of its significance, the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has celebrated its 10th and 20th anniversary respectively in 1990 and 2000. And the academia deems it as influential as “the first class in Huangpu Military Academy”. It might be the only workshop that has received such glory and appreciation in the history of economics. After all, it represents enthusiasm, initiation and breakthrough, being a cornerstone of quantitative economics. We owe all this to Professor Klein, the initiator of the econometric model and Nobel Prize winner. He took notice of China not only because of the intention of including China into his LINK model, but also because of his experience of being an American communist in the 1930s. Klein was forced to leave America for Oxford during the upsurge in McCarthyism. Until the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and America in 1979, he could lead American economists to China. The first time they came, they handed in economic theses however without any feedback from the Chinese side because Chinese economics had long been left behind. Later, Klein negotiated with Xu Dixin, the then Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Director of the Institute of Economics at CASS, and decided that an econometrics workshop led by Klein should be held in China the next year. Xu Shengwu, the Vice Director of the Institute of Economics took charge and Zhang Shouyi made arrangements for the opening of the class. Zhang Shouyi was first exposed to economic-mathematic method when he was at the Moscow National Institute of Economics, and was allocated to the Economic-Mathematical Method Research Group by Sun Zhifang…

The following sections is included:

• Postscript