Taiwan Inching Ahead of Japan in GDP per Capita (PPP)

choi

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Taiwan and Japan l  X not V; Taiwan’s standard of living has just surpassed Japan’s. Economist, Nov. 11, 2010.
http://www.economist.com/node/17473187?story_id=17473187&CFID=154203002&CFTOKEN=32996425

My comment:
(a) Kaname AKAMATSU 赤松 要 (1896-1974), noted for 雁行形態論  

Flying Geese Paradigm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Geese_Paradigm
(FGP; The FGP has proved to be a useful tool when describing the regional production patterns in East Asia as industries such as the textile industry has left not only Japan – the most advanced East Asian nation – but also, at a later point, South Korea and, Taiwan etc. These second tier nations have now firmly established themselves in for instance the automotive industry and are now beginning to shift to the even more advanced production of microcomputers and the like.)

Note:
(i) 要 【かなめ】 (n) (1) pivot
(ii) 要石 【かなめいし】 (n) keystone
(iii) 雁行 【がんこう】 (n) the flight formation of geese
Jim Breen's online Japanese dictionary

(b) The report says, "Singapore and Hong Kong caught Japan in the early 1990s." They should be compared against their colonial master, UK. After all, Japan occupied HK and Singapore for a short period of time during World War II (HK fell on Dec. 25, 1041 and Singapore, on Feb. 15, 1942).

Then again, both HK and singapore are city states, which do not really count--much like Manhattan has large economic output not only because workers commute from suburbs to work (thus reducing the number of people in denominator) but because Manhattan has no agricultural sector (whose output is relatively low).

(c) The report also states, "And if Akamatsu’s theory applies to a country’s industrial mix, rather than its standard of living, Japan is well out in front."

Taiwan is small, whose population is just a sixth of Japan's. (Taiwan's land mass (36,188 km2) is 1/11 of Japan's (377. 944 km2).)
List of countries and outlying territories by total area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area

(d) List of countries by GDP (PPP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)
points to three sources of data: IMF, World Bank and CIA World Factbook.

(e) The source of this Economist report?

I believe it is 2011 ICP Handbook, which is obviously published on Nov. 1, 2010.
(i) Mick Silver, IMF Applications of Purchasing Power Parity Estimates. IMF, Nov. 1, 2010.
http://www.imfbookstore.org/ProdDetails.asp?ID=WPIEA2010253&PG=1&Type=BL
(Price: &0.00; Languages and formats available: paperback and PDF; ISBN: 978-1-45520-953-8, Stock #: WPIEA2010253; Description: "The IMF’s main uses of the International Comparison Program’s (ICP) estimates of purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are as an element of the formula used to help guide decisions on its members’ quotas and in the World Economic Outlook (WEO). The paper outlines these uses and considers measurement issues particularly salient to IMF usage including: PPP imputations for member countries not participating in the ICP; PPP estimates for non-benchmark years; timeliness and periodicity of PPP estimates; economy groupings; and transparency. The paper was written as a chapter on ?IMF uses of PPPs? [sic] for the 2011 ICP Handbook.")

URL for the free working paper:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2010/wp10253.pdf
("WP/20/153" in the upper right corner of teh paper, which does not have a table or mention Japan or Taiwan)

(ii) ICP2011. World Bank,
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/ICPEXT/0,,contentMDK:22377119~menuPK:6782247~pagePK:60002244~piPK:62002388~theSitePK:270065,00.html

ICP stands for International Comparison Program.

I do not know exactly where, if it is free online, it talks about GDP (PPp) of Japan and Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei).

(iii) The Economist report comments: "In 2010, according to the IMF, Japan’s income per head will be $33,800; Taiwan’s will be over $34,700. * * * PPPs are based on a global survey of prices led by the World Bank in 2005."

(f) Unlike people from other regions of East Asia that were occupied by Empire of Japan, Taiwanese have had a special feeling/soft spot toward Japanese. The feeling was/is mutual; Japanese trust Taiwanese enough to contract work out to the latter.


---------------------Separately
John Banville, The Debtor of the Western World. New York Times, Nov. 19, 2010 (op-ed).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/opinion/19banville.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ireland%20debtor&st=cse
("It is the figures, mainly, that cow us into silence. It is estimated that the banking debt of this nation, which has a population of only 4.6 million, may be substantially more than 100 billion euros")

Note:
(a) The article does not mention how banks in Ireland accumulate so much debt.
(b) Visigoths
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visigoths
(section 2 Etymology of Tervingi and Vesi/Visigothi: visi "good"; The name "Visigothi" is an invention of Cassiodorus, who combined "Visi" and "Gothi" and intended to mean "west Goths")
(c) The "eve of All Saints" refers to Halloween.

Halloween (n; short for All Hallow Even (All Saints' Eve))
(d) damp (adj): "DEPRESSED, DULL"
(e) squib (n; origin unknown);
"1a: a short humorous or satiric writing or speech
2a : a small firecracker"

(f) Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse
(Jesus Christ opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons forth the four beasts that ride on white, red, black, and pale horses which each symbolize Conquest, War, Famine, and Death, respectively)

(g) abattoir (n; French): "SLAUGHTERHOUSE"

All English definitions are from www.m-w.com.


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