Who Shrunk China? Puzzles in the Measurement of Real GDP

The latest World Bank estimates of real GDP per capita for China are significantly lower than previous ones. We review possible sources of this puzzle and conclude that it reflects a combination of factors, including substitution bias in consumption, reliance on urban prices which we estimate are hi...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:	NBER Working Paper Series 2012-01, p.17729
Hauptverfasser:	Feenstra, Robert C, Ma, Hong, Neary, J. Peter, Rao, Prasada
Format:	Artikel
Sprache:	eng
Schlagworte:	American dollar Bias Consumption Economic growth Economic theory Economics Estimates Expenditures Foreign exchange rates GDP Government spending Gross Domestic Product International trade International Trade and Investment Measurement Per capita Prices Purchasing power parity Puzzles Studies Terms of trade
Online-Zugang:	Volltext
Tags:	Tag hinzufügen Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!

Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	The latest World Bank estimates of real GDP per capita for China are significantly lower than previous ones. We review possible sources of this puzzle and conclude that it reflects a combination of factors, including substitution bias in consumption, reliance on urban prices which we estimate are higher than rural ones, and the use of an expenditure-weighted rather than an output-weighted measure of GDP. Taking all these together, we estimate that real per-capita GDP in China was 50% higher relative to the U.S. in 2005 than the World Bank estimates.
ISSN:	0898-2937
DOI:	10.3386/w17729