Material Production And Cultural Production Of The Balanced Development Of Analysis

Since the 1990s, the growing trend of economic integration of the world has resulted in increasingly frequent cultural exchanges among nations and countries. Developed countries, thanks to their mighty economic strength and advanced technologies, have promptly dominated the international cultural market and has employed cultural products as a powerful means to develop their national economy and compete for more world trade volumes. Under the circumstances, cultural industries, like Prometheus's fire, may bring to us not only light and warmth, but also dangers and disasters. How can China's newly-emerged cultural industries enjoy faster, more efficient and more sustainable development? How can we strike a balance between production of material products and that of cultural products? These issues should be not only focus of Chinese economists but also concerns of every cultural professional. The thesis, guided by Marxist theories on economics, adheres to Marxist materialist dialectics, closely combines methodologies of economics and analysis from historical and cultural perspectives, conducts macro and micro, quantitative and qualitative analysis of production of material and cultural products, and tries to put forward constructive proposals and recommendations on the development of China's cultural industries. What needs to specially note is that the thesis fully reflects supportive proof and conformity between logical analysis and historical analysis. The innovative point of the thesis lies in its two guiding theorems—Theorem One on demand balance between material products and cultural products and Theorem Two on demand balance between material production and cultural production. The two theorems are concluded on the basis of complete and detailed comparison and study of production of material and cultural products, both with abstract and historical analysis. Theorem One assumes that when one's biological demand has been satisfied, his demand on material and cultural products are marginally the same. The assumption of Theorem One is of great importance to the thesis, because only when one's biological demands are satisfied can he have demands for cultural products. Based on this assumption, Theorem One reveals the relationship between demand for material products and demand for cultural products. According to Theorem One, people have two types of demand and it is logically deducted that demand for cultural products and materials products are marginally the same when affected by the law of diminishing marginal utility. Precisely speaking, Theorem One is a theorem on demand. As demand results in supply, the thesis deducts Theorem Two from the supply perspective. Theorem Two assumes that when one's biological demand is satisfied and cost for property rights protection is zero, the marginal return for production of material products and that of cultural products is equal. According to general knowledge of economics as well as Theorem One, if marginal demand for material products is equal to that for cultural products, supply of material products and that of cultural products should also be marginally equal. But the realities are not like what Theorem One describes. The reason is that cultural products and material products enjoy different natures. In particular, the non-exclusive nature of cultural product consumption results in, after one's biological demand is satisfied, the situation that cost for property rights protection of cultural products is not zero or higher than zero while cost for property rights protection of material products is at a lower level. The situation leads to different motivations and different social choices, and further, different choices of investors and non-simultaneity between production of material products and that of cultural products. Obviously, high cost for property rights protection is a key reason why production of cultural products lags far behind that of material products. Based on the two theorems, the thesis concludes two necessary conditions for the develop...