The following is a summary of Liu Peilin's comments during a rountable discussion at the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics held at Tsinghua University, Beijing, on May 23, 2026. Liu Peilin is Chief Researcher at Tsinghua University's Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT) and Co-Director of the Institute of Government and Market Economics at Zhejiang University's Center for Regional Coordinated Development.
On May 27, 2026, the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics, co-hosted by the Society for the Analysis of Government and Economics (SAGE) along with Tsinghua University's School of Social Sciences and the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT), was broadcasted online. Chief Researcher of ACCEPT and Co-Director of the Institute of Government and Market Economics at Zhejiang University's Center for Regional Coordinated Development, Liu Peilin, participated in a lively roundtable discussion where he outlined several areas of additional inquiry that may be of great interest to researchers in the field of government and economics.
Liu focused on explaining the distinctive qualities attributed to the field of government and economics from the perspective of its research questions. First, he pointed out that many young scholars are accustomed to studying how a certain policy (X) as pursued by the government affects a certain outcome (Y). In fact, these researchers can "go a step further" or "leap towards a higher dimension" by further questioning why the government would introduce such relevant policies in the first instance or whether better policies could be designed instead. This in turn would permit a deeper study of policy formation, government incentives and institutional design
Moreover, Liu emphasized that government and economics must not only work towards deciphering government itself but also the mechanisms of interaction between government and the market in terms of their relations. After the government issues new policies, whether and how market entities, local governments or other actors respond ultimately determines whether or not these policies can in fact be effective. He compared China's infrastructure construction with Indonesia's incorporation of Chinese policies, illustrating that the same policy design can elicit completely different responses in different countries and regions. Therefore, the interactions between government and the market cannot be simply abstracted away and must instead involve deeper reflection and analysis in relation to specific contexts.