Introduction to the Research Center for Marxist Economic and Social Development
The Center for Research on Marxist Economic and Social Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a non-entity research center [1] at the Academy level. Founded in March 1995, it is under the delegated management and direct leadership of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies.
The mission of this Center is to apply the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method to conduct comparative research on the historical development and future trends of various countries—particularly developed nations—to provide experiences, lessons, and insights for China's social and economic development, and to offer theoretical support for promoting socialist economic construction and social development with Chinese characteristics.
The professional scope of the Center includes: integrating research forces both within and outside the Academy to carry out academic exchange, cooperation, and theoretical innovation; providing policy countermeasures and recommendations to relevant departments; hosting academic symposia and publishing scholarly achievements; and conducting investigations and undertaking research projects based on the new circumstances of China's economic and social development.
Professor Cheng Enfu, a Member of the CASS Academic Division [2] and a renowned domestic Marxist economist, served as the Director of the Center for many years. Since its inception, the Center has successively hosted seven sessions of the "High-level Forum of the Chinese Economic and Social Development Think Tank" and published a series of books, including Intense Debates on the New Population Policy, Intense Debates on the New Opening-up Policy, Intense Debates on the New Housing Policy, and Intense Debates on the New Old-age Care Policy. These works have fostered in-depth discussions on opening up to the outside world, housing supply and security, population policy, reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), development of private enterprises, the distribution system, consumption policy, the development of the collective economy [3], and financial policy. The Center has proposed a series of policy advocacy positions that have generated significant social impact. Furthermore, the Center has long hosted and co-organized the National Forum on Marxist Economics and the Young Scholars Forum, as well as the annual academic conferences of the China Association for Political Economy and the Chinese Association for Research on Foreign Economic Theories, serving as an important platform for academic exchange.
The Center currently has seven researchers and three adjunct researchers. Researcher Hou Weimin serves as the Director; Researchers Yu Bin and Wang Zhongbao serve as Deputy Directors; Researcher Yang Jing serves as Secretary-General; and Associate Researcher Zhang Fujun serves as Deputy Secretary-General.
The office address of the Center is: Room 1341, CASS Scientific Research Building, No. 5 Jianguomennei Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing.