Production and consumption are the most fundamental economic activities of humanity and the most important relationship in economic operations. From a historical perspective, there is a phased transformation that occurs with the development of productive forces. At a low level of productive forces, the self-sufficiency of the mode of production determines that production and consumption have a direct identity, meaning no intermediary is needed to intervene between them. When productive forces reach a higher level, the mode of production is characterized by commodity production and exchange. As labor power becomes a commodity, the commodity economy becomes generalized, and production and consumption become separated. Their relationship becomes increasingly complex. Not only does the market serve as an intermediary between production and consumption, but economic systems, economic institutions, etc., also intervene in the formation of the production-consumption relationship.When productive forces develop to the stage of new-quality productive forces, the digitization of the mode of production provides technical support for gapless matching between production and consumption. Although production and consumption still remain in a separated state, there is an opportunity to reshape their direct identity. In the future, production and consumption will merge with each other, and one can no longer simply choose which is more important or which comes first between production and consumption.

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  LiuTingting

　　From:Study & Exploration.2025.No.4.