Cao Shixiong, Li Shurong, Ma Hua, Sun Yutong
College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, No. 229, Taibai North Road, Xi'an, 710069, People's Republic of China,
Ambio. 2015 Feb;44(1):1-6. doi: 10.1007/s13280-014-0540-9. Epub 2014 Jun 28.
Many societies face an income gap between rich regions with access to advanced technology and regions that are rich in natural resources but poorer in technology. This "resource curse" can lead to a Kuznets trap, in which economic inequalities between the rich and the poor increase during the process of socioeconomic development. This can also lead to depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation, social instability, and declining socioeconomic development. These problems will jeopardize China's achievements if the current path continues to be pursued without intervention by the government to solve the problems. To mitigate the socioeconomic development gap between western and eastern China, the government implemented its Western Development Program in 2000. However, recent data suggest that this program has instead worsened the resource curse. Because each region has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, China must escape the resource curse by accounting for this difference; in western China, this can be done by improving education, promoting high-tech industry, adjusting its economic strategy to balance regional development, and seeking more sustainable approaches to socioeconomic development.
许多社会都面临着一种收入差距问题,即能够获取先进技术的富裕地区与自然资源丰富但技术较为落后的地区之间存在差距。这种“资源诅咒”可能导致库兹涅茨陷阱,即在社会经济发展过程中贫富之间的经济不平等加剧。这还可能导致自然资源枯竭、环境退化、社会不稳定以及社会经济发展下滑。如果政府不进行干预来解决这些问题,继续沿用当前的发展路径,这些问题将会危及中国所取得的成就。为了缩小中国西部和东部之间的社会经济发展差距,政府于2000年实施了西部大开发计划。然而,最近的数据表明,该计划反而加剧了资源诅咒。由于每个地区都有其独特的优势和劣势,中国必须考虑到这种差异来摆脱资源诅咒;在中国西部,可以通过改善教育、促进高科技产业发展、调整经济战略以平衡区域发展以及寻求更可持续的社会经济发展方式来实现。