The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Gordon Chang is talking book literally—he is hawking his book called, “The Coming Collapse of China.” In short, I think Chang is full of it.

I commented on the allegation of China’s over-reporting GDP in #msg-76028575; in that post, I conceded that some over-reporting could be occurring, but not on the colossal scale envisioned by people like Chang. From #msg-76028575, which was in reply to you:

[hardcore]: I suspect the real GDP of China is half of what they report.

[Dew]: That’s impossible unless the multinational companies discussed on this board are parties to a massive conspiracy to over-report their sales and growth rates in China.

Bottom line: I’m willing to believe that China’s official economic statistics are exaggerated to some degree, but not to anywhere near the 100% overstatement of GDP that you posit.