Born in
Binzhou,
Shandong, Ma graduated from the Department of Economics of
Shandong University in 1982, and earned a
master's degree at
Nankai University in 1985. He received his
doctorate from the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1988. Ma won the
Sun Yefang Economics Prize in 1994 while serving on the
Development Research Center of the State Council, he received the Chinese Economic Theory Innovation award In 2012. He served as the Director of
General Department, SETC from 1996 to 2003, and was Deputy Secretary of
SASAC from 2003 to 2008. From 2004 to 2007, he was vice governor of
Qinghai, a province located in northwest China. He served as the Director of
China NBS from 2008 to 2014. Ma was elected to the
18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party as an alternate member in November 2012. Ma was ranked first out of 168 alternate members in a list ordered by the number of votes received at the party congress. Ma was made a full member of the committee at the 3rd Plenum of the 18th Central committee in 2014 to replace a vacant seat. ==References==