The economic, political and institutional ties between Latin America and China have become closer as the Chinese economy has grown. Indeed, as a result of its rapid economic growth, China now plays a systemic role in the world economy. However, since the global financial crisis, the Chinese...

Monthly economic indicators are used for a variety of purposes, from studying business cycles to determining economic policy and making informed business decisions. China's published monthly industrial output statistics could hardly be more confusing, with changes in variables, in coverage, in...

The International Comparisons Program (ICP) run by the World Bank compares the purchasing power of currencies and real income across countries. Using a unique data set consisting of over 600,000 ICP price quotes drawn from nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, we consider a number of ways...

For the past nearly forty years, China has experienced average annual real GDP growth of close to ten percent, much of it driven by investment and capital accumulation. By 2014, gross capital formation had reached 46 percent of aggregate expenditures. This paper documents the role of investment...

China's rapid economic growth over the past forty years was in good part driven by capital accumulation, with, in recent years, investment taking up almost half of output. This paper documents the role of investment in driving economic growth in China, questions how much longer China can sustain...

China's investment rate is one of the highest in the world, which naturally leads one to suspect that the return to capital in China must be quite low. Using the data from China's national accounts, we estimate the rate of return to capital in China. We find that the aggregate rate of return to...

Capital estimates are widely used in economic growth and productivity studies, for profitability considerations and wealth accounting exercises. Yet the calculation of "capital" frequently receives only cursory attention, despite the challenges posed by conceptual difficulties, the complexity of...

For the past nearly forty years, China has experienced average annual real GDP growth of close to ten percent, much of it driven by investment and capital accumulation. By 2014, gross capital formation had reached 46 percent of aggregate expenditures. This paper documents the role of investment...