The following is a summary of Dong Zhiyong's keynote address to attendees at the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics held at Tsinghua University, Beijing, on May 23, 2026. Dong Zhiyong is Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Peking University, Professor and Dean of the School of Economics at Peking University and Editor-in-Chief of Economic Science.
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. Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Peking University, Professor and Dean of the School of Economics at Peking University and Editor-in-Chief of Economic Science, Dong Zhiyong, delivered a keynote speech in which he highlighted a series of policy interventions to address the issue of "idleness" among the working poor and better support human development.
Dong delivered a systematic address on the topic of "Can Poverty Alleviation Foster People's Aspirations? Government Policy and Personal Choice as Seen from the Issue of ‘Idleness'," which can be demarcated and defined based on three different dimensions: morality, economics and behavioral science. "From the perspective of economics, this low level of individual effort is a rational choice, representing a balance determined by a combination of both benefits and constraints." He stated his complete rejection of simple moralistic criticisms and instead evaluated the phenomenon from a professional economist's standpoint: "The issue of ‘idleness' emerges when people remain in a state characterized by low individual participation, low individual expectations and low individual effort over a lengthy period of time. According to the language used within the discipline of economics, we can say that the input of such an individual has remained at a low equilibrium over a sustained period."
By relying on economic models, Dong further analyzed the formative logic behind this low-level equilibrium. The budget constraint line is affected by factors such as low returns, high risks, insufficient opportunities, unpredictable returns on inputted efforts and an overdependence on policies; while the indifference curve line is shaped by multiple other factors, including immediate consumption preferences, loss aversion, low anticipation, behavioral inertia and structural social changes at the level of rural communities, among other factors. He pointed out that "this is not simply a matter of ‘idleness,' but instead is the result of a complex mix of structural hurdles and individual impediments."
In addressing these issues, Dong proposed a two-way approach by adjusting the budget constraint and the indifference curve lines in order to provide an overall improvement in the equilibrium point that defines an individual's development potential. In terms of shorter-term policy interventions, the most important aspect is to increase the returns to labor and reduce the barriers to entry for participation. "The short-term policy approach involves boosting people's compensation for putting in more effort, including through the introduction of labor subsidies, industry-related incentives, publicly-funded job openings and geographically accessible employment opportunities, in this way lowering participation costs and increasing the returns to labor." At the same time, he admitted that short-term subsidy policies are of limited use, since there is a high chance of instituting a state of policy dependence, which would hence make it harder to fundamentally reshape the overall prospects for elevating an individual's overall level of development.
"Tackling poverty must start with the promotion of confidence building," Dong emphasized, stressing that the core consideration for longer-term policy interventions revolves around enhancing people's confidence in their capacity to improve their own situations. He further remarked: "From the vantage point of economics, ambition is a comprehensive standard that combines an individual's judgments regarding future returns, risks and their personal abilities. Ambition determines whether people are willing to continue investing now with a view towards reaping longer-term returns."