A To-Do List For China’s Statisticians |
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November 24, 2009
For skeptics of Chinese economic data – you know who you are – a recent report by the International Monetary Fund makes some interesting reading. The IMF is one of the main international agencies advising China on how to improve its economic statistics, and thus has more access and influence than most outsiders.
For skeptics of Chinese economic data – you know who you are – a recent report by the International Monetary Fund makes some interesting reading. The IMF is one of the main international agencies advising China on how to improve its economic statistics, and thus has more access and influence than most outsiders.
Though there have been some changes for the better in recent years, it’s fair to say that the quality of Chinese economic data has not risen as rapidly as China’s importance in the global economy. The world’s third-largest national economy – which is soon to be the second-largest – is still laboring with a statistics-gathering apparatus left over from the state-planning era. Basic information about the economy – like the real number of unemployed people, or a plausible level of average incomes – simply isn’t provided in a satisfactory way with current practices. (For some of our previous coverage of statistical issues in China, look here).
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