I am bit confused by this. GDP is an aggregate quantity representing total economic activity.
You can define a mean GDP per capita by taking the total GDP and dividing by population. How exactly would you define median GDP? By analogy, total earnings for a company is an aggregate quantity. You can divide by number of employees and come up with a number like "Microsoft's annual earnings are $500,000 per employee". But how would you even go about defining a quantity like "median earnings per employee"? It seems to me that the concept does not really make sense. Unlike say, median earnings, where it does make sense. What am I missing? -raghu. On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 9:59 PM, Maxim Linchits <[email protected]> wrote: > Certainly. The median numbers from Gallup are very useful. Cuba has not > been sampled, since Gallup's question would not make sense in Cuba. > Gallup's question is also more applicable to some countries than to other, > so international comparisons are not necessarily straightforward. > > But what does that says about the plausibility of a GDP figure of 21K for > Cuba? Since Cuba is a far more equal country than most of those sampled > (its median GDP will be closer to its mean, relative to most other > countries), the comparison of median incomes will yield some spectacular > results. You will find that median income in Cuba is not all that far from > the US. That's expecting Cuban socialism to perform miracles, and it flies > in the face of everything we know. > > I sense a certain defensiveness your part, no? The question is not about > the quality of life in capitalist countries, but about the output of the > Cuban economy. Living standards in Cuba are reasonably high relative to > much of Latin America. Its economic performance is a different matter. At > the same time, there output is not unrelated to living standards . And it's > something that has to be quantified. You really have to leave any > ideological predispositions at the door to even begin thinking about this > question. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Eugene Coyle > Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 4:51 AM > To: Pen-l Pen-L <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] What is Cuba's GDP? [question posed on prog econ list > > These numbers seem to be MEAN PPP, not median. Gallup has numbers for > several countries showing median PPP, but behind a paywall. > For the USA, compare mean and median GDP, never ming PPP and see the > difference. And then reflect that half the population is below the median. > > Gene > > > > On Mar 16, 2016, at 6:40 PM, Maxim Linchits <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Thanks Michael. I looked at those numbers too, and realized that a > number like 7K is not only formally inadequate (who looks at nominal GDP, > besides journalists?) but also unintuitive. But 21K? If we follow the > eyeballing method, the answer will be in eye of the beholder. And I think > most observers would expect to see much more “stuff” for 21K, including > cars, computers, internet access, construction etc. Health and education > are highly important stuff, but there’s lots of other stuff one would > expect to see for that kind of money - unless you live in the US. I’d > expect to see much more consumption, given that Cuba is vastly more > egalitarian than the GINI champions you mentioned. > > > > So perhaps there is more to discuss. Has anything been written on Cuba’s > national accounting methodology? How accurate is the data on purchasing > power? I remember seeing a paper from the 1980’s on Cuban national > accounting practices, but I assume a lot has changed since then. The most > recent account I could find is “Measuring Cuba’s economic performance” by > Jorge F Perez.: https://books.google.ru/books?id=fqx0BQAAQBAJ I have not > read it yet and I don’t expect this source to give an unbiased assessment, > but it seems to be the only serious study of the topic in print. > > > > Reducing relatively open capitalist and relatively closed socialist > economies to a common denominator is a challenge worth exploring, but it > seems little has been done on that front since the collapse of the USSR. > For what it’s worth the CIA World Factbook implies that Cuba’s output > should be around 11-12K today. I doubt this figure is the product of > painstaking research, or that the figure even comes from the CIA, but it > does not seem implausible. > > > > > > > > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael a. > > lebowitz > > Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 12:40 AM > > To: '[email protected]' <[email protected]>; Progressive > > Economics <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] What is Cuba's GDP? [question posed on prog econ > > list > > > > A friend who does work on the Cuban economy commented that you should > > forget about the official gdp measure and consider only the ppp. He > notes that the WB has Brazil at about 15, Mexico at 16, Panama at 20 and > Chile at 22 (Argentina not given). And the US is 53 K. When I look at those > numbers and consider what Cubans produce, I find the number of 20 K not at > all unreasonable. We could talk about reducing it to 18 or whatever, that’s > more or less irrelevant – they rank about where they should by what their > country produces, compared to other LA countries. Yes, I know 20 K seems > like most Cubans do not have that in their pocket (and they don’t), but > most Brazilians do not ever see 15 K, most Mexicans do not see 16K, and so > on. Of course lots more one could say and discuss, but that’s the super > short form. > > > > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > > > > > > -- > > WHILE I AM IN CUBA, PLEASE cc [email protected] FOR PERSONAL MAIL AS > > THAT OFTEN IS EASIER TO DOWNLOAD > > --------------------- > > Michael A. Lebowitz > > Professor Emeritus > > Economics Department > > Simon Fraser University > > 8888 University Drive > > Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 > > Cuba home: 7 832 8189 > > Cuba cell: 53 5 476 0553 > > > > > > > > -- > > WHILE I AM IN CUBA, PLEASE cc [email protected] FOR PERSONAL MAIL AS > > THAT OFTEN IS EASIER TO DOWNLOAD > > --------------------- > > Michael A. Lebowitz > > Professor Emeritus > > Economics Department > > Simon Fraser University > > 8888 University Drive > > Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 > > Cuba home: 7 832 8189 > > Cuba cell: 53 5 476 0553 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pen-l mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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