The Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) is a “think-and-do” tank designed to incorporate the best ideas from global thought leaders into the work of policy makers who can integrate and put those ideas into practice. Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) is joining forces with ASPI to convene private roundtables comprised of social science experts who conduct data-intensive research into timely issues confronting China’s economy. Conducted in closed-door settings to ensure free-flow of ideas, the collaboration kicked off with a virtual roundtable on January 26, 2022, analyzing the contours and implications of President Xi Jinping’s common prosperity program -- its underlying motivators, prospects, and challenges.

First introduced in the beginning of 2021, Xi Jinping’s common prosperity campaign has become the Communist Party of China’s signature initiative, potentially signaling a fundamental shift in the party’s policy platform. Many aspects of this incipient program, however, remain under-defined. A small panel of academic scholars focused on China’s economy and politics met to discuss the initiative across multiple dimensions, including its deeper aims that lie alongside its more nominally distributive goals as well as their short- and long-term implications.

More specifically, among the questions posed to the roundtable participants were the following: What is the common prosperity program in practice? What are the drivers and motivators of the political campaign being waged in its name? Where is the initiative headed, and will it be able to accomplish its goals? 

The roundable synopsis and full report of the  discussion provide additional detail.