For a long time, China’s household consumption rate has been lower than the world average, which is an important manifestation of China’s low domestic demand. A study from an international comparison perspective is helpful to make clear the characteristics of household insufficient consumption and its institutional origins. In addition to the regional economic development mode of “focusing on accumulation and investment” under the Asian growth mode, institutional causes such as official promotion championship and factor price distortion are two important institutional reasons for the low consumption rate of Chinese residents. Financial repression and land factor price distortion are the key mechanisms to dampen the rise of household consumption.The growth of interest income from residents’ banking deposit is restricted under financial repression, and the development of land factor market lags behind, which limits the source of farmers’ land income and jointly inhibits residents’ consumption.The focus of expanding domestic demand is to further promote the market-oriented reform of factor prices, balance the relationship between consumption and investment, and work on boosting consumption and improving the quality of people’s life at the same time.