The NYT told its readers that China's per capita GDP is just $2000 a year. According to the CIA Factbook its per capita GDP is more than $5000 per year. The difference is the CIA Factbook number is a purchasing power parity measure which tries to measure the value of China's output if Chinese goods and services had the same prices as goods and services in the United States. The measure reported in the NYT simply converts China's GDP into dollars at the official exchange rate. This provides little information about living standards in China.
--Dean Baker
