Recently, the "Antai · Wen Zheng" series forum on Finance and Development, co-organized by Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Antai College of Economics and Management and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) under the theme "Guiding Financial Services for High-Quality Socio-Economic Development," was successfully held. This event aimed to leverage the cooperative effects of "bank, enterprise, academia, and research" partnerships.

Prof. LU Ming, Distinguished Professor at Antai College, Executive Dean of China Development Institute, and Deputy Chair of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, delivered a speech titled "Local Government Debt and Financial Reform: A Unified Currency Area Perspective." He highlighted that the issue of local government debt primarily stems from the lower economic development levels, low labor productivity, and limited population mobility in underdeveloped regions. Local governments often resort to borrowing to support infrastructure and social welfare expenditures, a growth in debt that is unsustainable.

To address the issue of local government debt, Prof. Lu suggests several measures: Firstly, facilitating labor mobility to enhance the competitiveness of underdeveloped areas and thus reduce fiscal burdens. Secondly, maximizing the agglomeration effect of urban clusters and metropolitan areas to improve resource allocation efficiency. Finally, reforming the financial system, adjusting central-local relations, and relying on market mechanisms to restrain local government borrowing.

Furthermore, Prof. Lu emphasized the importance of labor mobility in narrowing regional income disparities and promoting common prosperity. He believes that population movements will gradually reduce per capita GDP gaps between regions, aiding the achievement of common prosperity. He also noted that online and offline economies complement each other; the growth of the online economy does not replace the offline economy but instead creates more job opportunities in the service sector.

Prof. Yingli Pan of Antai College underscored that the core of the internal economic cycle is the labor market cycle. Efficient enterprises should create jobs, increase household incomes, facilitate human capital accumulation, and meet industrial development needs. Financial intermediaries play a central role in the internal cycle by identifying and nurturing outstanding enterprises to provide quality financial assets. Prof. Pan also mentioned that China's economic growth faces downward pressure in the future, with structural issues such as the declining employment share of the secondary industry and demographic changes needing attention. She advocated focusing on broad-based industries like agribusiness and consumer services for sustainable development and solving employment issues.

The China Development Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Shanghai Branch of ICBC signed an agreement to launch the "Financial Big Data Laboratory Project." The project aims to establish the "Financial Big Data Laboratory" through joint research topics, combining the development needs of both enterprises and financial institutions.