China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy

[mike r]

Source: New York Times

After three decades of spectacular growth, China has passed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures released early Monday. The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China’s ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.

The milestone was reached early Monday, when Tokyo said that in the second quarter, the Japanese economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion, slightly below China’s figure of $1.33 trillion. The gross domestic product of the United States was roughly $14 trillion in 2009. Japan’s economy grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter, Tokyo said, substantially less than forecast.

Experts say unseating Japan — and in recent years passing Germany, France and Great Britain — underscores China’s growing clout and bolsters forecasts that China will pass the United States as the world’s biggest economy as early as 2030.

“This has enormous significance,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “It reconfirms what’s been happening for the better part of a decade: China has been eclipsing Japan economically. For everyone in China’s region, they’re now the biggest trading partner rather than the U.S. or Japan.”




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/business/global/16yuan.html

[bluestateguy]

1. Remember "Japan bashing" in the 80's?

Seems like eons ago.

[JI7]

14. i remember something about the japanese taking over all the office buildings or some other shit

[Fearless]

2. So the US economy is ten times bigger than Number Two?

Makes you think.

Clearly such a nation has eradicated poverty, provided quality education to all of its children, has a low prison population, and has a strong protective social safety net.


:eyes:

[bossy22]

6. only about 3 times larger

[boppers]

7. 1.33/14 = 0.095

Nine and a half percent, slightly less than a tenth....

How did you get to "3 times larger"?

[Fearless]

10. If the US is 14T and China is 1.33T that's China is 9.5% that of the US actually.

Which is roughly 10%, which means the US is roughly 10 times bigger.

[Prometheus Bound]

9. No the Chinese and Japanese figures are for one quarter; the US figure for the year.

Not a very well written comparison is it.

[Fearless]

11. Indeed. In which case the numbers do make more sense.

1.33*4= 5.32

[boppers]

12. Thanks for running the numbers down.

Journalism, yay!

[pampango]

3. US' income inequality (GINI-40.8) is almost as bad as China's (46.9), while Japan (24.9) is second

in the world, after Denmark (24.7), as the country with the most equitable income distribution. (Sweden is third at 25.0).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

Also, Japan's population (127,000,000) is less than a tenth of China's so their population has ten times the per capita income of the Chinese. In 2008 China's per capita income was about 1/6 of that of the US, about the same ratio as Japan's was to ours in 1950. Time will tell if China can maintain its growth for as long as Japan did (until it stagnated in the 1990's).

[onehandle]

4. tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock... nt

[Laelth]

5. This is, actually, very significant. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[radhika]

8. Gee, ya think that maybe.....

countries that MAKE things, and SELL them to the rest of the world and LEND money not BORROW do well in the world? What a novel idea. Nah, too simple, too 20th century.

[JI7]

13. We should accept that China will surpass the United States also one day

[onehandle]

15. Nothing to accept. At the rate they are gaining financial strength, we have a couple of decades...

Max.

Learn Chinese, kiddies.

[unkachuck]

16. "China...

...is already the primary determiner of the price of virtually every major commodity,"

....over the last several decades, while we've been systematically destroying our manufacturing base, inventing crooked financial ponzi schemes and new ways to profit from the selling of Chinese goods, China has built a 21st century manufacturing base economy....

....in real productivity, non-middleman terms, I bet China is already the worlds largest economy....and their economy is still growing in double-digits; what are we growing at this year with our 'Capitalist Paradise' economy?

....it's amazing what markets and Communism can do....