China Tells

China’s low consumption ratio has been a focus of academic research (See Article from Chinatells). There are a lot of reasons being offered for such a low level of consumption. However, the economists might have overlooked a fundamental fact: China is still a low income country with its GDP per capita below USD 10,000. In fact, a more detailed look at a few countries with their GDP per capita and consumption ratio would reveal that China’s low consumption ratio might be perfectly normal given her current income level. Interestingly, Brazil and India could be the outlier that has over consumed with their income level relatively below the OECD countries.

中国的消费率低一直为媒体所诟病。但是攻击中国消费率过低的那些经济学家也许忽略了一个基本事实，那就是中国的人均国民收入还是相当低的。事实上如果将世界一些主要国家的人均国民收入和消费率加在一起对比，就会发现基本上收入和消费率成正比。这样看来，也许中国的消费率其实正常，并非太低。