中国社会科学院经济研究所，由20世纪20年代成立的两家研究机构改组、合并、更名，几经变迁发展而来。先后经历了中央研究院、中国科学院和中国社会科学院发展时期。经抗战烽火之洗礼、见乱世中国之重生、立时代改革之潮头、发经济理论之先声，在国家经济建设和中国特色社会主义经济理论研究中发挥了重要作用，代表了中国经济学研究的发展主流。
20世纪20年代至40年代末，主要研究领域为工业经济、农业经济、劳动问题、对外贸易、财政、金融、人口、统计、经济史、战时经济等。50年代以来，逐渐发展为以经济学综合性、基础性领域为主要研究方向，聚焦重大经济理论和现实问题研究，坚持学术研究与智库研究并重，发挥“马克思主义经济学的坚强阵地、中国经济学发展的学术引领、中国重大经济问题研究的智库支撑”三大定位的国家级综合性经济学专业研究机构。
经济所目前设有14个研究室，5个院级研究中心，2个所级研究中心。管理2个智库、1个全国性研究中心，主管5个学术社团和1个基金会。在经济所的发展历程中，先后有一大批对中国经济建设和经济理论发展做出杰出贡献的学者在此耕耘不辍、著书立说、学术报国。经济所注重学术交流和学术传播，主办的《经济研究》、《经济学动态》、《中国经济史研究》，在国内经济研究领域学术期刊中居领先地位。2020年又创办了《经济思想史学刊》。
经济所恪守敬业、博学、求是、创新的传统，秉承“以学术为本位、以人才为中心”，循规范，勤实践，深思考，求真理，为时代开先声，为人民做学问，努力在新时代为中华民族伟大复兴，为中国经济理论和中国经济学的发展作出新的更大的贡献。

The Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was reorganized, merged and renamed by two research institutes established in the 1920s. It has experienced the development period of Academia Sinica, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Through the baptism of the Flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the rebirth of China in the chaotic world, the tide of reform in the founding era, and the precursor of economic theory, it has played an important role in national economic construction and the study of socialist economic theory with Chinese characteristics, and represents the mainstream of the development of Chinese economic research.

From the 1920s to the end of the 1940s, his main research areas were industrial economy, agricultural economy, labor problems, foreign trade, finance, finance, demography, statistics, economic history, and wartime economy. Since the 1950s, it has gradually developed into a state-level comprehensive economics professional research institution with the comprehensive and basic field of economics as the main research direction, focusing on the research of major economic theories and practical problems, adhering to the equal emphasis on academic research and think tank research, and giving play to the three major positions of "the strong position of Marxist economics, the academic leadership of China's economic development, and the think tank support of China's major economic issues research".

The Institute of Economics currently has 14 research laboratories, 5 research centers at the institute level and 2 research centers at the institute level. Manages 2 think tanks, 1 national research center, 5 academic societies and 1 foundation. In the course of the development of the Institute of Economics, a large number of scholars who have made outstanding contributions to China's economic construction and the development of economic theory have worked tirelessly here, written books and lectures, and served the country academically. The Institute of Economics pays attention to academic exchanges and academic dissemination, and hosts "Economic Research", "Economic Dynamics" and "Chinese Economic History Research", which are in the leading position in academic journals in the field of domestic economic research. In 2020, the Journal of Economic Thought And History was founded.

The Institute of Economics adheres to the tradition of dedication, erudition, truth-seeking, and innovation, adheres to the principle of "taking scholarship as the basis and talent as the center", follows norms, practices diligently, thinks deeply, seeks the truth, opens the way for the times, does research for the people, and strives to make new and greater contributions to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era, to the development of China's economic theory and Chinese economics.