China's GDP has expanded at 8.1 percent in 2021, growing the fastest in nearly a decade and landing well above the government's annual target of achieving a growth rate above 6 percent.
Sort of, GDP is a factor that only means something in particular scenarios. Behind every concrete number there's a way to interpret it.
China has a heavily manufacturing based economy and actually make stuff so their GDP increases usually tie into gain from increased productivity. China actually has a way lower one than you'd think per capita because they're still industrializing all areas at a sustainable pace.
American GDP gains are sort of fake because it usually represents higher levels of financialization that respond less and less to real world factors. Banks loan money, package loan debt into financial products, people trade those financial products, and every step contributes to GDP. It's like 2 guys passing each other a 5 dollar bill back and forth 4 times and adding 20 bucks to the GDP.
Gains in GDP could be good or bad depending on how it's done. Invading Guatemala and forcing everyone to work on a banana plantation raised GDP because you had people exchanging money who might not have, but life under colonialism and not being able to live how you did before means this is such a radical change that GDP is a useless number here.
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TBH, GDP is mostly meaningless, but when you look at the more meaningful metrics like industral output, China is even more ahead.
Sort of, GDP is a factor that only means something in particular scenarios. Behind every concrete number there's a way to interpret it.
China has a heavily manufacturing based economy and actually make stuff so their GDP increases usually tie into gain from increased productivity. China actually has a way lower one than you'd think per capita because they're still industrializing all areas at a sustainable pace.
American GDP gains are sort of fake because it usually represents higher levels of financialization that respond less and less to real world factors. Banks loan money, package loan debt into financial products, people trade those financial products, and every step contributes to GDP. It's like 2 guys passing each other a 5 dollar bill back and forth 4 times and adding 20 bucks to the GDP.
Gains in GDP could be good or bad depending on how it's done. Invading Guatemala and forcing everyone to work on a banana plantation raised GDP because you had people exchanging money who might not have, but life under colonialism and not being able to live how you did before means this is such a radical change that GDP is a useless number here.
Any GDP measurement estimate from before the 1980s-ish are absolutely useless and neolibs like to sell optimism based on fudged numbers. Jason Hickel summarizes the flawed neolib view of it