PRC Statistics

["brian turner" <bkt90@hotmail.com>]

What is the general perception about the reliability of GDP growth figures?  
Some commentators seem to think they are undervalued, at least one 
overvalued, and most seem to accept the official stats at face value.  There 
are two questions related to this:  (1) is there any conscious fraud in the 
figures  (2) is the informal market so big they really can't count it 
accurately.

In Vietnam, the petty capitalist informal off-the-books part of Hanoi's 
economy is so huge, frankly I don't see how any aggregate statistics could 
be anything but guesses.

What about the Gini coefficient?  (Measurement of inequality from 0 -1).  
The official figures are 0.4, but I read a Chinese critic who said that he 
thinks it might reach sky high Brazil levels (over 0.6) if hidden illicit 
wealth stashed away in secret bank accounts is included.

What about rural poverty stats?  Carl Riskin and others discredited some 
earlier stats, but what are the official stats showing regarding that now, 
and any comments  by others on those?

What about unemployment?

Life expectancy and other health indicator trends in the last 4 years?

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