http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2007/12/21/poor-countries-are-much-poorer-than-guessed-opinion Comments for "Poor Countries are Much Poorer than Guessed (Opinion)" en http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2007/12/21/poor-countries-are-much-poorer-than-guessed-opinion <div class="flexinode-body flexinode-4"><span class="flexinode-timestamp-13"> December 20, 2007 - 17:00, </span> <span class="flexinode-textfield-14"> Financial Times</span> <div class="flexinode-textfield-15"> From Riches to Rags</div><br> <div class="form-item"> <label>Story Link:</label> <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d03dbf5c-ad9f-11dc-9386-0000779fd2ac.html">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d03dbf5c-ad9f-11dc-9386-0000779fd2ac.html</a> </div> <div class="flexinode--41"> <strong>Teaser: </strong><br /> <p>China and India are poorer than we thought; rich countries produce even more than we realised. Those are the obvious conclusions from an unprecedented exercise, carried out by a World Bank-led coalition.<br /><br />The “International Comparison Program” attempts to compare the size of the world’s disparate economies on the basis of purchasing power. On this basis, China’s output is just 9 per cent of global gross domestic product, down by more than a third from the previous estimate of 14 per cent. India’s share of global GDP is down from 6 per cent to 4 per cent. The total output share of developing economies is down by a sixth. These are huge revisions to the figures.<br /><br />The obvious questions are: how could the old figures be so wrong? And can we trust the new figures? The simple answer is that calculating purchasing power is hard even in principle.</p><br class="clear" /></div> <div class="flexinode-textarea-6"> <p>China and India are poorer than we thought; rich countries produce even more than we realised. Those are the obvious conclusions from an unprecedented exercise, carried out by a World Bank-led coalition.<br /><br />The “International Comparison Program” attempts to compare the size of the world’s disparate economies on the basis of purchasing power. On this basis, China’s output is just 9 per cent of global gross domestic product, down by more than a third from the previous estimate of 14 per cent. India’s share of global GDP is down from 6 per cent to 4 per cent. The total output share of developing economies is down by a sixth. These are huge revisions to the figures.<br /><br />The obvious questions are: how could the old figures be so wrong? And can we trust the new figures? The simple answer is that calculating purchasing power is hard even in principle.</p><br class="clear" /></div> </div> http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2007/12/21/poor-countries-are-much-poorer-than-guessed-opinion#comment Miscellaneous Asia Pacific South Asia Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:28:32 -0500 Manuel Bueno 4995 at http://www.nextbillion.net