INVESTING IN PEOPLE
Two phrases were paired throughout the report – investing in “physical things” and “people”.
Lin described “investing in people” as “the counter-narrative to pure infrastructure spend”.
It comes with a concrete new mechanism: the Urban and Rural Residents Income Growth Plan, first called for at December’s Central Economic Work Conference.
HKU’s Wong traced the concept to the early years of Xi’s administration but said COVID and the first Trump trade war delayed its full articulation.
“Investment in people, whilst having been an important principle for a decade, was only able to gain proper policy salience after China emerged from that double whammy,” he said.
On what would actually shift household behaviour, Wong pointed to the safety net.
Short of revitalising the real estate sector, he said, improving social security and instilling confidence in long-term economic prospects is the only viable path to unlocking consumption.
“You don’t need to worry as much about saving for a rainy day” if the safety net holds, he said – and that, in his view, is the precondition for everything else.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-two-sessions-key-terms-economy-tech-ai-involution-investing-in-people-5985911
