WHO SHRUNK CHINA? PUZZLES IN THE MEASUREMENT OF REAL GDP

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Feenstra, Robert C.; Ma, Hong; Peter Neary, J.; Rao, D. S. Prasada
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Davis; National Bureau of Economic Research; Tsinghua University; University of Oxford; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); University of Queensland
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12021
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 1100-1129
• 关键词: international comparisons; economic-theory; Index numbers; output; consumer; input

摘要

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 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 Chinese real per capita GDP was 30% higher in 2005 than the World Bank estimates. Our empirical procedures have implications more broadly for international comparisons of living standards and real GDP.