Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Stupidities of using PPP to compare countries

(In order to make cross-country comparisons, it is important to make adjustments based on the currency exchange rates as well. The PPP model does just this. It arrives at a theoretical exchange rate at which you can buy the same amount of goods and services across countries. The value of GDP at PPP is then calculated using this theoretical exchange rate.)

PPP is just a stupid theoretical value devoid of any real basis. Just hunches, whereas true GDP is based on real currencies. Do you import a car or raw materials using PPP theoretical money? Not at all. So what is the point of using PPP then?

Real GDP in BRICS are destroyed by subsidiaries making prices appear low so PPP is used. Still not convinced? Take for example the price of petrol. Real price is rm4,but in Malaysia it is sold at rm2 per litre. It means that PPP for Malaysia is double the real GDP calculated using real currencies.

Not really but close to double because energy subsidies affect so many things, including salaries of workers. To make matters worse, the human slavery practises of Malaysia contributes to the low real GDP but so called high PPP. Just take a look at the salaries of the contract doctors and their terms of employment. Worse than ordinary clerks despite requiring huge amount of training and skills, compared to clerks. So much talk about salaries based on skill and productivities. These are all lies.

The same with India and China.

https://theprint.in/economy/led-by-china-india-the-5-brics-nations-now-contribute-more-to-world-gdp-than-industrialised-g7/1490881/

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