The International Conference of the Consortium for Western

China Development Studies

Consortium for Western China Development Studies

Academy of West China Development, Sichuan University

The inaugural conference of the Consortium for Western China Development Studies was held at Sichuan University during June 22-23, 2004. The Consortium for Western China Development Studies hosted the conference, and Sichuan University, Southwest University of Finance and Economics, and Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences co-hosted this inaugural conference with the support of the Chinese Economist Society (CES), Overseas Chinese Society of GIS, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, the Institute of Remote Sensing Application, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IRSA/CAS), and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. The topic of the conference was “Towards a New Paradigm for Developing Western China: Meeting the Challenges of Sustainable Development and Globalization”. More than 100 participants from universities and research institutions of China, the United States, Canada, the U. K., Japan, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, World Bank, and Asia Development Bank attended the conference. Xie Heping, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the President of Sichuan University, met all the participants.

The conference proceeded through the opening ceremony, the keynote speeches, the concurrent sessions, and the closing ceremony. Professor Lu Tiecheng, the Secretary of CPC of Sichuan University delivered the welcoming speech, and Ke Zunping, the vice governor of Sichuan Province, Professor Liu Guoeng, the Chair of CES, and Professor Zhu Axing, the Chair of Overseas Chinese Society of GIS spoke at the opening ceremony. The keynote speakers included Professor Wing Thye Woo from University of California at Davis, Du Ping, Director of the Office for Western China Development in the State Council of China, Professor Lin Ling from Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Du Kentang from Sichuan University, Professor Lei Hengshun from Chongqing University, and Professor Li Xiaowen, member of Chinese Academy of Science. The concurrent sessions covered the following topics: the strategies for developing Western China, environments and sustainable development, agricultural development and urbanization, public health and social development, the development of ethnic minority regions, promoting technological development, financial innovation and FDI, and the application of remote sensing and information technology in Western China. Professor Jeff Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special adviser to UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, made a keynote speech, Professor Zhao Changwen, assistant to president of Sichuan University and general secretary of the Consortium Summarize the conference at the closing ceremony.

The following is a brief summary of the four major topics covered at the conference.

1. The allocation of scientific research resources and the fostering of innovation capacity of Western China

Many participants focused on the allocation of scientific research resources, a problem long neglected. They pointed out that a strong support of scientific policies is indispensable in the development planning, resources exploitation and industry development, environmental protection and restoring, and social development of Western China. China has accumulated a considerable amount of scientific research resources during its more-than-two-decades’ economic reform. However, the support of scientific research resources in the Western China development has been comparatively weak, and the lack of technological innovation is now a serious bottleneck in the Western China development. For many years, the national scientific research resources have clustered in Beijing and the coastal areas. As a consequence, first, those institutions of application research which target at the problems in Western China are often unable to accomplish their missions due to their far distance from the real world of Western China. Second, a large portion of research fund is often wasted on meetings and traveling instead of research projects, which further impairs the efficiency of scientific research resources utilization. Thirdly, the existing framework of research funding encourages scientists and technicians to cluster in Beijing and coastal areas and make many researches not closely relevant to the realistic problems in China, not mention Western China, just for funding. At the same time, the comparatively poor living conditions in the Western China make researchers unwilling to make thorough field study and their research achievements often fail to get applied in the West.

The participants pointed out that the Western China development cannot be achieved without technological innovation. Thus, the central government should pay enough attention to the reallocation of scientific research resources. Consideration should be given to both fairness and efficiency, and the efficiency of scientific research resources allocation should be synthetically evaluated from the quality of research achievements, human resources development, and fostering of local technological innovation capacity. The central government should encourage the institutions of application research targeting at the West China to locate and relocate in Western China, and funds for researches on Western China problems should be mainly given to research institutions in the Western China. With these measures, the efficiency of technological resources allocation could be improved and more economic and social benefits could be harvested with given scientific resources input. Besides, the government should provide better working and living conditions for scientists and technicians relocated to the West, and give them support in funding to facilitate their research.

2. Migration and West China investment choices

Some participants pointed out that from the perspective of economic geography, economic activities always cluster in the plains of the coastal areas，thus, inland mountain areas usually are poorer than the plain of the costal areas. This is evident in the China, and the American history during the past century told the same story. Farmers and their children tend to migrate to the coastal areas to seek job opportunities and better life. In the United Sates, the freedom of migration reduced the income gap between the coastal areas and inland. In China, due to the location advantages and decades of preferential policy, eastern area has enjoyed a much faster development and the income gap between the East and West keeps increasing. When China began its economic reform, it was a correct choice to let the eastern area develop first and then provide resources and experiences for the western area. Now, to reduce the increasing gap between the eastern and western area, the government has two policies to choose from. One is to keep increasing investment in the eastern area and encourage the migration from west to east. The other is to invest in the west to improve the infrastructure there for economic development. The participants believed that the former is a better choice. The government should adopt a policy promoting free movement of people and encourage farmers and their families living in the western area to migrate to the eastern area. In this case, the American experience of developing its West does not apply to China. The western part of the United States enjoys thousand miles of coast, while the western part of China is mainly mountain areas and far from coast. Thus, it might be a better choice for the government to invest more in human capital development instead of in infrastructure in the western area. The cost of infrastructure investment, i.e. building highway in mountain areas, and its maintenance cost could be very high, while the investment return will be low. But the investment in human capital development might promise a better return. Whether these people remain in the western area or move to the East, the human capital investment will increase their job opportunities and income level. Furthermore, most of the regions in Western China are ecologically fragile due to heavy population pressure, and environmental protection and restoring is an imperative task of Western China development. Thus, it is a appropriate policy to encourage migration to either coastal areas or inland metropolitan areas like Chengdu and Chongqing. The policy makers will have to make decision choices for two problems: the first is whether to cancel “Hukou (domicile control)” immediately or gradually, and the second is how to make human capital investment. The participants believed that cooperative medical care and elementary education should be where the investment goes.

3. Macro-economic control policies and differential West China development policies

The participants believed that while the economic situation in general is sound, there are overheat in some areas and overinvestment in some industries and in real estate development. While it is proper and effective for the central government to use macro-economic control policy to prevent overall economic overheat and loss of state-owned land resources, we can not deny the negative impact of the ongoing macro-economic policies on the underdeveloped areas in the West. The economic overheat in some regions and some industries is mainly caused by the expanding investment of the local governments who seek to push the local economy by investing. Therefore, the corresponding macro-economic control polices should target at the real causes and try to avoid negative impact. The macro-economic control policies to combat overheat include raising the rate of electricity, regulating the land market, tightening the credit market, and controlling the fixed asset investment. While these measures brought some opportunities to the western area, their negative impact is also evident. For instance, the higher electricity cost further weakened the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises in the West which are already weak in the competitive market; the stop of land supply for 6 months cut off the land supply for many developmental projects in Western China; and the tightened credit market forced may private enterprises in the West abandoned their investment projects. Western China is more sensitive to the ongoing macro-economic control policies due to its lower economic development level and higher internal economic disparity compared with Eastern China. The central government should take into consideration the regional economic disparity and adopt some differential regional policies. The huge internal disparities in geography, resources, economy, and culture in Western China require that policies applied to the West China should not only consider the disparity between the West and East, but also the internal disparity with western areas. A differential developmental policy will be a key factor for sustainable development of the West.

4. Deepening Reform of Financial Sector and the Capital Formation in the West China

The capital formation in the West China and the deepening of reform of financial sector in the rural area is another focus of the conference. The participants believed that the success and sustainability of Western China development heavily depends on the capacity of capital formation of the West. Therefore, the government should help fostering the capacity of capital formation in the West, including the fiscal capital formation, equity capital formation, credit capital formation, and FDI capital formation. The capacity of capital formation in the West is lower than in the East due to lower level of financial deepening and financial development in the West. Therefore, deepening financial reform will be crucial for Western China development. The financial sectors in cities and rural areas in the West show different characteristics. In cities, about 40% of the capital of the financial institutions flow to the coastal areas. Due to the low level of financial deepening as well as problems of industry structure, at least 50% of the 1 trillion RMB invested by the central government for Western China development during the past five years eventually went to the Eastern and Central China. In the rural areas, since state-owned commercial banks stopped their businesses there, the rural credit cooperatives are the only kind of financial institution available. However, due to many problems, the services of credit cooperatives can hardly meet the need of rural area in the West. While a lot of attention is paid to the formal financial institutions, the functions of informal financial institutions are often neglected. From the experiences of coastal areas, informal financial institutions have a significant positive impact on promoting the investment of local people, and consequently promote the development of SMEs and rapid economic growth of the eastern area. While the formal financial institutions in the West often fail to provide adequate support for the SMEs due to high transaction cost and high risk involved, the informal financial institutions have the information advantages, flexibility, and cost advantage to meet the gap. In addition, the informal financial institutions may also help to retain capital for local investment. Thus, it is an important policy for the government to guide and develop informal financial institutions in the West China.

“中国西部开发研究联合体”首届国际学术研讨会在四川大学举行

中国西部开发研究联合体

四川大学西部开发研究院

2004年6月22日－23日，由中国西部开发研究联合体主办，四川大学、西南财经大学、四川省社会科学院承办，中国留美经济学会、中国海外地理信息学会、哥伦比亚大学、密西根大学、中国科学院遥感研究所、成都电子科技大学等协办的“西部开发联研究合体”首届国际学术研讨会在四川大学成功举行。会议主题为“可持续发展与全球化挑战：中国西部开发新思路探讨”。来自美国、加拿大、英国、日本、印度、新加坡、中国香港许多著名大学和研究机构以及世界银行、亚洲开发银行国际组织的50多位海外代表以及来自国内北京大学、南京大学、北京师范大学、重庆大学、兰州大学、宁夏大学等30所学校研究机构的60余位代表出席了会议。会议期间，四川大学校长谢和平院士接见了全体代表。

研讨会分为开幕式、主题发言、分组讨论和闭幕式四个部分。开幕式上，四川省人民政府副省长柯尊平教授到会讲话，四川大学党委书记卢铁城教授致欢迎词, 中国留美经济学会会长刘国恩教授、中国海外地理信息学会会长朱阿兴教授分别致词。著名经济学家美国加州大学戴维斯分校的胡永泰教授、国务院西部开发办公室杜平司长、四川省社会科学院林凌研究员、四川大学杜肯堂教授、重庆大学雷亨顺教授、中国科学院院士李小文教授等作了主题发言。在分组讨论中，与会者就中国西部发展战略、环境与可持续发展、农业发展与城镇化、卫生与社会发展、民族地区发展、科技发展、金融创新与外商直接投资、遥感与信息技术在西部开发中的应用等专题进行了重点讨论。 闭幕式上，国际著名经济学家、联合国高级顾问、美国哥伦比亚大学杰夫瑞·萨克斯教授作了主题发言。限于篇幅，仅就以下四个问题作一综述。

一、 科技资源配置与西部创新能力培育

本次会议上，许多代表的关注点聚焦在一个长期以来被人们所忽视的科技资源配置问题上。与会专家认为，从西部开发规划，到西部资源开发与产业发展，生态环境保护与重建，乃至于社会发展，都需要科技政策方面给予强有力的支持。改革开放20多年，中国已经积累了大量的科技资源。但一个毋庸忽视的事实是，大量的科技资源并没有发挥它对西部开发的重要支撑作用, 科技创新能力不足已成为严重影响西部发展的制约因素。多年来国家的科技资源配置过分集中于北京和沿海地区：一是一些面向西部地区的应用性科研机构也被设置在北京和其它地区，而这些机构常因远离实际应用研究环境而难以深入开展工作；二是中央政府提供资助的科研经费也主要集中在北京和沿海地区，由于地域条件和客观环境的限制, 许多科研经费往往大量消耗于会议和旅行, 并未能真正用在西部的研究工作上, 严重影响了科研资源的利用效率；三是在科研经费导向的影响下, 大量优秀的科技人员集中在北京和沿海地区，由于脱离西部实际，其科研方向往往盲目追赶或者模仿国外，造成低水平重复，同时由于西部地区生活条件艰苦，他们不愿到西部作深入的调查研究，其科研成果也难以落实西部, 一些关于西部的重要研究工作也往往难以保证长久持续进行。与会专家进一步分析指出，未来西部的发展离不开科技创新, 中央政府应对科技资源重新配置问题引起足够重视, 在未来科技政策中充分体现公平和效率的原则，从科研成果水平、人才培养和地方科技创新能力培植等角度综合评估科技资源效率, 应鼓励面向西部的应用性科研机构设在西部，面向西部研究的科研经费应主要投资在西部的科研机构, 只有这样才有利于提高科技资源的使用效率，使用最小的科技投入产生最大的经济和社会效益；其次，要改善迁移到西部地区工作的科研人员的工作条件和生活待遇，在科研经费上予以大力支持, 为他们在西部多出快出科研成果创造条件, 使他们能够心甘情愿地到西部工作, 并安心扎根西部。

二、 人口迁移与西部投资选择

与会专家认为，从经济地理的角度，经济活动总是集中在沿海平原地区，地处内陆的山区总会比沿海平原穷一些，中国的现实映证了这一点，美国过去100多年的历史也说明了这一点，当经济发展时，总是内地农民及其子女会流向沿海平原地区。因为美国的人口流动相对自由，所以美国的内地和沿海的人均收入差距并不大，因此，美国尽管也存在地区人口差异，但地区收入差异不太显著。对于中国而言，由于东部地区有优越的区位条件和强劲的经济优势，所以采取优先让东部地区发展起来的政策应该是正确的选择，但随着市场化进程加快和改革力度加大，原先仅东部地区享用的政策也逐渐为西部地区所共享。在这些政策被西部共享的同时，西部与东部之间的经济发展水平差距却不断加大了。因此，对决策者来讲，必须思考的一个问题是决定在东部地区进行再投资加快东部发展以吸引西部的人口流动，还是投资于西部以改善其经济发展的条件。中国是阶梯状地形，内地农民和农民子女会流向沿海平原地区，所以，应该选择促进人口自由流动的政策。与会者认为中国西部开发不能照搬美国西部开发的模式，他们认为，美国西部有漫长的海岸线，这与中国西部的交通条件极其不一样。从整体效益看，人力资本投资可能比大量交通投资在短期内会产生更大的回报。在崇山峻岭之中修路需要巨额的投入，而道路的线路长，利用率低，保养与维护的成本高，相应的投资回报率小。人力资本投资对西部地区效果也许更为显著，无论这些人口留在西部还是流向东部，都会增加他们的就业机会和收入的提高。与会专家进一步分析指出，西部绝大部分地区是生态环境脆弱地区，生态环境保护与重建是西部大开发的根本和切入点，西部生态环境脆弱性的形成主要来自于人口压力，所以，减轻人口压力的政策选择是促进人口流动，而人口流动应该鼓励两个方向：一是向沿海经济发达地方流动；二是向诸如成都、重庆这样的大城市流动。

此外，与会专家认为，在促进人口流动方面，决策者要面临两个问题：一是立即取消户口制度还是逐渐取消户口制度的选择；二是人力资本投资重点的选择，合作医疗和基础教育应作为重点选择。

三、 宏观调控政策与差异性西部开发政策

与会专家认为，当前我国经济形势主流是合理的，但存在局部性经济过热现象，具体反映在局部投资扩张和土地征用开发过度等方面。从总体上讲，中央实施的宏观经济调控政策对防止宏观经济过热和国土资源迅速流失是必须和有效的，但是，我们不能忽视基于统一性的宏观调控政策对一些区域特别是西部等欠发达地区以及西部大开发战略的影响。与会代表认为，导致局部经济和部分行业过热，主要是许多地方的“投资拉动经济发展模式”所致，而地方投资热情的源动力在于政府部门的投资冲动，并非企业的投资过度。因此，必须采取有针对性的宏观调控措施，并要尽可能消除其负面效应。本次针对中国宏观经济的新变化，中央政府采取了提高电价、清理整顿土地市场、收紧信贷和控制固定资产投资等政策，这些政策既给西部地区发展带来一些机会，也给西部地区发展造成了一些直接的负面影响。比如，电价提高以后，西部地区大部分竞争力本来较弱的中小企业犹如雪上加霜；停止政府半年供地，使得西部本身发展需用地得不到解决；收紧信贷政策，使得西部大量的民营企业由于得不到贷款而放弃西部地区投资发展计划等等。由于西部地区经济发展水平低，差异大，起步晚，相对东部而言，对宏观调控政策尤为敏感。因此，中央的宏观调控政策应充分考虑区域经济差异和发展的不平衡性，实行差别性的区域政策，避免全盘一刀切。占有全国三分之二国土的西部，内部地理，资源，经济，和文化差异极大。在未来的西部开发战略中，不仅要考虑东西部的地区差异，还应充分考虑西部地区内的差异，制定因地而异的区域开发政策，将是保证西部地区稳定，健康和可持续发展的关键。

四、 金融深化改革与西部资本形成

本次研讨会所关注的另一个焦点是西部地区资本形成与农村金融深化上。与会专家认为，西部大开发战略是否能够顺利实施和保持可持续发展，在很大程度上取决于西部地区的资本形成能力。所以，在推进西部开发中，要培育资本形成能力，包括财政性资本形成能力、资本市场的权益资本形成能力和货币市场的信贷资本形成能力、FDI的外部资本形成能力。西部资本形成能力普遍比东部和中部要弱，存在突出的“东高西低”特征。与会专家认为，西部资本形成能力低的主要原因是西部地区金融深化度低以及金融发展水平低。为此，西部地区的金融深化改革将是大力推动西部开发的关键。与会专家进一步分析指出，西部城市金融和农村金融发展呈现不同的特征，就西部城市金融来讲，城市金融机构大约有40％的资金流向东部沿海地区。由于金融深化程度弱，再加上产业结构的问题，导致近5年来西部开发中央投入1万亿的资金中，至少有50％在东部和中部实现。对于西部农村金融而言。从正规金融来看，国有商业银行退出农村以后，农村信用合作社是唯一的正规金融部门，但由于其经营还有不少困难和问题，其金融服务根本不能满足西部农村的金融需要。在当前有关西部地区金融深化和金融发展的研究中，人们更多地关注正规金融部门，而往往忽视非正规金融部门。从沿海地区的情况看，非正规金融部门对促进当地居民投资有显著的正面作用，促进了中小企业发展和东部地区经济的迅速增长。西部地区的正规金融部门由于受经营机制、交易成本和风险等因素制约，难以为中小企业提供足够的金融支持，而非正规金融部门尽管存在规模劣势，但其所具有的信息优势、灵活性、交易成本低以及担保优势使金融中介功能得以保证，从而部分弥补正规金融的不足，在某些情况下甚至能够起到比正规金融更大的作用。此外，非正规金融的存在还有助于西部地区留住本地资金。正确引导和发展西部地区非正规金融的发展，将是促进西部经济发展的一项重要举措。

注：此报告已由光明日报正式发表。