Li Lixing: How will the income distribution under the economic development of the platform will change

Author:CITIC Publishing Time:2022.08.08

The issue of income distribution is an important issue facing the current countries around the world, and it is also closely related to the governance of the platform economy. Over the past 20 years, it has benefited from a strong tax system and a loose regulatory environment, and some large Internet technology companies in Europe and the United States have risen. Measured by the increase in cost bonuses, the degree of monopoly continuously strengthened, which also promoted the expansion of the gap between the rich and the poor. Some scholars have found that the expansion of the gap between the rich and the poor is almost contradictory in the economy, such as deficit, debt, default, low fertility, low growth, low inflation, low interest rates, and confusion of values. In recent years, regulatory policies have shifted. In addition to the implementation of tax reforms in Europe and the United States, in addition to reducing the gap between the rich and the poor, they have also launched antitrust and strict supervision of large technology companies.

Professor Li Lixing of the National Institute of Development Research said in "Platform Economy: Innovation, Governance and Prosperity" that overall, the rise of the platform economy may not only increase employment and income opportunities to improve the overall income distribution status of society, but also changes by changing The comparison of the forces of both labor and management, as well as the gap between the industry and regions, has a negative impact on the distribution of income.

Platform economic development, empowering employment of vulnerable groups

Some studies believe that the development of the platform economy can reduce the gap between income distribution, including urban and rural and regional income gaps. The most important reason is that the platform economy has created a large number of employment opportunities, especially the opportunities for flexible employment to increase the income of low -skilled workers, thereby reducing inequality. For example, in the current China, the platform economy's creation and driving role in employment is more obvious. A large number of new employment positions spawned by the platform economy, coupled with the characteristics of the flexible employment of zero workers, make workers a possible diversified employment, and provides a wider way to obtain income for many low -income people.

At the same time, the development of the Internet and digital technology has changed the production processes and operating rules of many industries, reducing the skills requirements and work thresholds of related occupations for the required labor force, and empowering the employment of vulnerable groups.

For example, Alibaba's "Cloud customer service" provides customers with consulting services remotely through Internet technology, breaking the limitation of working hours and place in the traditional customer service industry, and the skills of Yun customer service can be easily obtained through simple online training. It greatly reduced the requirements of this work for early manpower capital investment (see "Research Report on Alibaba's Ecological Flexible Employment and Employment Quality", 2021).

Although this position is not created for a certain group, it has attracted a large number of people with physical defects or action disorders to engage in this profession with its unique advantages. The live broadcast platform that has risen in recent years has provided many farmers with the opportunity to get income without leaving home, which also provides new ideas for the solution of poverty alleviation work and left -behind children in rural areas. "Village Broadcasting" is the abbreviation of live broadcast forms related to rural content. Data from Taobao Live Platform show that as of the end of March 2020, more than 60,000 farmers nationwide became rural anchors (see the "Taobao Live Employment Employment and New Employment Study Study Report ", 2020), helping local local products not only increased the income of local farmers, but also promoted the upgrading of agricultural product supply chains.

In addition, the development of the platform economy also provides more convenient and affordable goods and services for consumers (especially low -income consumers), which improves consumer welfare level. This is also a change that cannot be ignored in income distribution. The rise of the Internet platform has transformed many traditional products or service formats to provide consumers in a more efficient way. At the same time, it has also spawned many new products or service formats and greatly expand the boundary of consumption. For example, the traditional taxi industry uses cruise pick -up to achieve supply and demand matching. The efficiency is relatively low, and it is difficult for taxi to become a problem of long -term trouble in urban residents. The emergence of the online car platform has greatly improved the efficiency and service level of taxi services, and really enhances the benefits of ordinary consumers. For another example, the emergence of takeaway platforms has changed the traditional catering consumption habits, which has spawned a new takeaway service format, so that consumers can enjoy catering products without leaving home. The changes in these products and service supply methods can directly improve the level of consumer welfare, especially the impact on low -income groups.

Platform economic development induced income distribution deterioration

There are also some studies that the impact of the platform economy on the overall income distribution of society is negative, which will lead to the polarization of social income distribution, which is not conducive to narrowing the regional income gap. First of all, many theoretical and empirical studies have shown that the rapid development of the digital economy will reduce labor income share and increase capital income share in the short term. According to data research from 56 countries around the world, the progress of information technology will lead to a decline in labor income share in most countries. In contrast, the proportion of capital compensation in economic income has continued to rise, and more wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few capital owners, and eventually exacerbates the income gap between capital owners and general labor.

Secondly, due to the obvious scale effect of the platform economy, most of the Internet segmented industries will form a market pattern dominated by one or two platforms after fierce market competition, thereby monopoly. If monopolists continue to obtain excess returns with the monopoly position, they will cause damage to the overall social benefits. For example, in order to win in the competition, many platforms will use the advantages of funds to provide high subsidies for both supply and demand to obtain as much market share as possible; after the market position is stable, the platform will gradually cancel relevant subsidies. The increase in online car or takeaway costs has risen sharply, riders and drivers are divided into decline, and marketing expenses facing platform merchants have increased. These phenomena have caused people to worry about the platform economy to a certain extent. Thirdly, as mentioned earlier, the labor relationship in the platform economy is different from the labor relationship or civil relations under the traditional two -point method, and the labor rights protection system has not taken shape. At this time The income distribution deteriorates. Furthermore, the platform is usually a maker of various rules including algorithms, and the platform workers are just compliances of various rules and difficult to obtain equal dialogue with the platform. Therefore, they are in a relatively weak position in the distribution of interests.

Finally, the high -speed development of the digital economy objectively increases the development gap between the industry, urban and rural, and regions. At the industry level, according to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the average salary of information transmission, computer services and software in all industries in 2019, reaching 161 352 yuan, is 1.78 times the average salary of employed personnel in urban units of 90,01 yuan. The high -speed development will objectively pull the income gap between the industry. At the level of urban and rural areas and regions, the development of the digital economy has a strong scale effect. Most Internet companies are concentrated in a few cities such as north, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou.

The rise of the platform economy will bring the pain on employment issues

New jobs replace the old work to cause some workers to lose their jobs

The development of platform economy can be regarded as a very destructive innovation activity, which will inevitably lead to a large structural adjustment cost. The rise of the platform has impacted some traditional industries and led to the disappearance of some employment opportunities. For example, in the early days of the rise of online car rental platforms, traditional taxi drivers once fiercely resisted due to their benefits, which caused some local governments to delay to issue licenses to online cars due to concerns about social stability.

The disappearance of traditional employment opportunities and the emergence of new employment opportunities are global structural changes caused by technological progress, which will undoubtedly bring short -term pain. In the process, the interests of low skills and disadvantaged groups are often damaged. Because the change of this work is largely an alternative to high efficiency on inefficient efficiency, workers and enterprises will also make adjustments to adapt to change. For example, with the development of online car rental, the advantages of the platform's accurate matching and improving efficiency are revealed. Most of the traditional cruise taxi drivers actively or passively adapt to this change. The control methods of various places are constantly adjusting. Traditional cruise taxis taxis The conflict between the ride -hailing car is greatly weakened. For the government, good control should respect the objective laws and conform to change, rather than hindering innovation.

Facing the pain of structural transformation, we should focus on solving problems in development, that is, on the one hand, encourage innovation and promote economic development, and on the other hand, we can benefit the development of the dividends and damaged groups through transfer payment and other methods. To this end, the social security system should be improved, and groups that have been impacted by the impact of the platform's economic development should maintain their living standards and achieve work transformation. If these people cannot switch to new employment or lack the necessary social security, it is likely to cause social contradictions and even hinder the development of the platform economy. In recent years, some national populist forces have risen and global policy reversal. One important reason is that some workers and companies who have been impacted have not received appropriate compensation. These lessons are worthy of reference in China.

Labor income share decline

A series of studies represented by French economist Piketi's "21st Century Capital" pointed out that since the 1980s, the share of labor income has declined significantly in the income distribution of various factors. This is a global trend, and China is not an exception.

The reasons for the decline in labor income share include factors such as long -term industrial structure changes, globalization, and tax structure. For example, from the perspective of economic development, labor income shares will show U -shaped changes; from the perspective of economic volatility, the economic downturnal labor income share increases, both of which can also explain the decline in the labor income share of the financial crisis before and the decline in the financial crisis. After the financial crisis, the share of labor income rises.

In addition, the digital economy and platform economy represent a technical progress of skill bias, which mainly enhances the demand for high -skilled labor. equality. In short, it is difficult to establish a direct causal relationship with the long -term trend of this global labor income decline in the short -term platform economy and the rise of large -scale technology companies. Rather than the development of digital technology is the reason for the decline in labor income share, it is better to say that both are the result of technological progress.

The platform has obtained a monopoly position, and social welfare is damaged

The issue in this regard mainly involves improper competition, and there may be suspicion of abuse of market dominance. It should be realized that these issues are not unique to the platform economy. They are issues that need to be continued to face in the field of antitrust and anti -unfair competition. Algorithm help monopoly

The Internet platform is highly dependent on the algorithm of efficiency priority. The so -called "algorithm hegemony" and "algorithm jurisdiction" and other issues have attracted high attention from society. Although zero workers have greater flexibility in terms of working hours and working lengths, they have a strong support for the platform in terms of work tasks, remuneration and benefits. The rise of the platform economy has made many entrepreneurs a "platform -dependent entrepreneur" and lost the autonomy of traditional entrepreneurial activities. The algorithm design of the Internet platform is essentially to balance the interests of merchants, consumers, zero workers and other parties, as well as the platform's own interests. For example, in the early stage of development, in order to obtain more consumers as much as possible, the algorithm would tend to consumers' interests, but often not conducive to merchants and riders. Driven the guidance of the platform algorithm rules, the rider runs faster and faster, and the risk of accidents has risen. The so -called "trapped in the algorithm" and other claims have attracted the attention of the public.

Because it is difficult to conduct detailed provisions of the algorithm through laws and regulations, it is necessary to adopt the idea of multiple governance to overcome the so -called "algorithm hegemony". Jia Kai pointed out that in terms of algorithm management, it is necessary to improve the tolerance of transparency and rules, absorb feedback from the labor process, and adjust the algorithm in a timely manner. In addition, the social responsibility of the enterprise should be strengthened, the role of industry associations and unions should be used, and the parties should be encouraged to negotiate regularly.

The development gap between industry, urban and rural, and regions expands

It is undeniable that the rapid development of the digital economy objectively increases the development gap between the industry, urban and rural areas, and regions, but this is the phenomenon that will inevitably occur in the process of technological progress and urbanization, and the result of the role of scale economy and agglomeration.

In short, many issues related to the distribution related to income are actually a widespread problem in global technological progress. In reality, because the platform economy is at the forefront of technological development and connects consumers, merchants, workers, etc., it has become the focus of attention. If the development of the platform is limited, it will damage the enthusiasm of scientific and technological innovation, which is not conducive to "making big cakes", so it cannot achieve the goal of improving income distribution.

"Platform Economy"

Editor Huang Yiping

CITIC Publishing Group in July 2022

brief introduction:

The platform economy has become a reality that is closely related to everyone's daily life, and has also greatly promoted economic development. However, the disorderly expansion of the platform economy has also brought many challenges.

The platform economy should not be unreasonable prosperity, but to develop in an orderly and standardized manner so that it can benefit the economic form of every ordinary person. Therefore, the governance, innovation and supervision of the platform economy is now imminent and widespread concern.

This book is edited by Professor Huang Yiping of the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, and organizes a number of scholars from many fields such as economy, digital finance, Internet, management, law, and other fields. The impact of platforms on employment and income distribution, data governance and algorithm governance, risk and problems of digital financial platforms, labor and user rights, antitrust and supervision, etc., jointly study the economic innovation and governance of the platform, provide the platform to provide the platform to the platform Policy suggestions and solutions for various types of economic problems make the platform economy more fair and fair, and then promote the orderly, stable and prosperous development of the economy.

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