Sustainable Steady-State Economy

Abstract

Since China’s reform and opening up, the continued rapid growth of its economy has led to significant increase in both the size of Chinese economy and per capita income. The rapid growth attracts lots of interests in the future of Chinese economy at home and abroad. There are many different opinions, and no unanimous conclusion can be drawn. Some people are optimistic and think Chinese economy will continue its rapid growth; there are also pessimists who believe it will soon collapse, while others think it will go through some shifting and adjustment. Under the development paradigm of ecological civilization, China’s economic growth is impossible and unnecessary to follow the growth path of industrial civilization development paradigm, and the growth transformation is inevitable. Accommodating nature means respecting the boundary constraints for the harmony between human and nature and avoiding any effort to maintain growth or promote growth at the cost of violating the laws of nature. Moreover, economic growth under the ecological civilization development paradigm must be real and in line with ecological harmony. Therefore, the future of China’s economic transformation has to be structure adjustment, quality upgrading, and transition toward the steady-state economy of harmony between human and nature.