Analyzing more than 300,000 articles across 40 top-tier journals between 2000 and 2022, this study demonstrates that China’s 2006 National Medium-and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology catalyzed a surge in publication volume and citations, propelling China past the United States as the world’s leading producer of scientific research. Controlling for national income, population, and human capital, we find these gains are concentrated in fields explicitly targeted by the government’s plan—physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine—while fields excluded from the plan, such as mathematics and economics, show significantly less growth. Our findings suggest that targeted state-led investment can effectively drive scientific progress, at least within a centrally planned economy.
Nothing contributes so much to the prosperity and happiness of a country as high profits