China is being fuelled by inspiration, not perspiration

Oct 23rd 2025|5 min read

When China’s leaders talk of the country’s economy, they often speak in Communist Party jargon, citing terms such as “dual circulation”, “new productive forces” and “involution”. Recent commentary has also featured a bit of jargon drawn straight from mainstream economics: “total factor productivity”, or TFP. A rise in TFP is the “hallmark” of new productive forces, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said last year. On October 21st the People’s Daily, a party newspaper, urged China to pull “the bull’s nose of innovation and strive to improve total factor productivity”.