A quick thought on China's convergence

Beijing's 2009 GDP (PPP) per capita: $17,063
South Korea's 2009 GDP (PPP) per capita: $27,978*

People always assume that China is converging to the United States and Beijing is converging to the major metropolitan areas around the world.  If South Korea is a better model, China might be closer to finishing convergence than most people think.

*Both of these numbers are from Wikipedia, and the IMF in the case of South Korea's. A more apples to apples comparison would use Seoul's GDP per capita, but this number has been difficult to find. Calculating it using the assumption that Seoul is almost 22% of the Korean economy leads to a very similar number, about $28,500 (PPP).
Filed under  //   china   economics  

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I studied Bioengineering at the University of California at San Diego. While there I served as a trustee on the investment committee of the UCSD Student Foundation, a group that manages an endowment to fund scholarships. While in college I applied my interest in finance and economics by working as a summer associate at Clarium Capital Management, working part time my senior year, and joining full time when I graduated in 2006, staying there through August 2010. I am currently working as a portfolio manager at another global macro hedge-fund in the Presidio (And blogging about more directly market related ideas at their restricted blog). I’ve been focusing on quantitative finance, currencies, commodities, the interplay between finance and politics, demography and other long term trends.

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