I had already said all I wanted to say, but now things I wasn’t thinking are attributed to me. First, Maxim has detected “defensiveness” — what am I supposed to be defending? Baffled.
As far as Raghu’s point I have no quarrel, except when he veers into his Microsoft analogy. Just get a list of all the employees’ salaries and discover the median. What am I missing? to repeat Raghu’s question. We often see comparisons of CEO pay and some proxy for what workers at the coal face are getting, although that is usually expressed as the mean of some subset of employees. And that’s because we don’t get to see each employee’s pay stub, information is very closely held. Gene > On Mar 17, 2016, at 8:39 AM, Maxim Linchits <mlinch...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Nothing. Eugene just prefers to call it that, instead of simply “median > pre-tax household income”. > > From: pen-l-boun...@lists.csuchico.edu > [mailto:pen-l-boun...@lists.csuchico.edu] On Behalf Of raghu > Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 4:28 PM > To: Progressive Economics <pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu> > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] What is Cuba's GDP? [question posed on prog econ list > > I am bit confused by this. GDP is an aggregate quantity representing total > economic activity. > > You can define a mean GDP per capita by taking the total GDP and dividing by > population. How exactly would you define median GDP? > > By analogy, total earnings for a company is an aggregate quantity. You can > divide by number of employees and come up with a number like "Microsoft's > annual earnings are $500,000 per employee". But how would you even go about > defining a quantity like "median earnings per employee"? > > It seems to me that the concept does not really make sense. Unlike say, > median earnings, where it does make sense. > > What am I missing? > -raghu. > > > > > > > > On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 9:59 PM, Maxim Linchits <mlinch...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Certainly. The median numbers from Gallup are very useful. Cuba has not been >> sampled, since Gallup's question would not make sense in Cuba. Gallup's >> question is also more applicable to some countries than to other, so >> international comparisons are not necessarily straightforward. >> >> But what does that says about the plausibility of a GDP figure of 21K for >> Cuba? Since Cuba is a far more equal country than most of those sampled (its >> median GDP will be closer to its mean, relative to most other countries), >> the comparison of median incomes will yield some spectacular results. You >> will find that median income in Cuba is not all that far from the US. That's >> expecting Cuban socialism to perform miracles, and it flies in the face of >> everything we know. >> >> I sense a certain defensiveness your part, no? The question is not about the >> quality of life in capitalist countries, but about the output of the Cuban >> economy. Living standards in Cuba are reasonably high relative to much of >> Latin America. Its economic performance is a different matter. At the same >> time, there output is not unrelated to living standards . And it's something >> that has to be quantified. You really have to leave any ideological >> predispositions at the door to even begin thinking about this question. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: pen-l-boun...@lists.csuchico.edu >> [mailto:pen-l-boun...@lists.csuchico.edu] On Behalf Of Eugene Coyle >> Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 4:51 AM >> To: Pen-l Pen-L <pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu> >> Subject: Re: [Pen-l] What is Cuba's GDP? [question posed on prog econ list >> >> These numbers seem to be MEAN PPP, not median. Gallup has numbers for >> several countries showing median PPP, but behind a paywall. >> For the USA, compare mean and median GDP, never ming PPP and see the >> difference. And then reflect that half the population is below the median. >> >> Gene >> >> >> > On Mar 16, 2016, at 6:40 PM, Maxim Linchits <mlinch...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > >> > Thanks Michael. I looked at those numbers too, and realized that a number >> > like 7K is not only formally inadequate (who looks at nominal GDP, besides >> > journalists?) but also unintuitive. But 21K? If we follow the eyeballing >> > method, the answer will be in eye of the beholder. And I think most >> > observers would expect to see much more “stuff” for 21K, including cars, >> > computers, internet access, construction etc. Health and education are >> > highly important stuff, but there’s lots of other stuff one would expect >> > to see for that kind of money - unless you live in the US. I’d expect to >> > see much more consumption, given that Cuba is vastly more egalitarian than >> > the GINI champions you mentioned. >> > >> > So perhaps there is more to discuss. Has anything been written on Cuba’s >> > national accounting methodology? How accurate is the data on purchasing >> > power? I remember seeing a paper from the 1980’s on Cuban national >> > accounting practices, but I assume a lot has changed since then. The most >> > recent account I could find is “Measuring Cuba’s economic performance” by >> > Jorge F Perez.: https://books.google.ru/books?id=fqx0BQAAQBAJ I have not >> > read it yet and I don’t expect this source to give an unbiased >> > assessment, but it seems to be the only serious study of the topic in >> > print. >> > >> > Reducing relatively open capitalist and relatively closed socialist >> > economies to a common denominator is a challenge worth exploring, but it >> > seems little has been done on that front since the collapse of the USSR. >> > For what it’s worth the CIA World Factbook implies that Cuba’s output >> > should be around 11-12K today. I doubt this figure is the product of >> > painstaking research, or that the figure even comes from the CIA, but it >> > does not seem implausible. >> > >> > >> > >> > From: pen-l-boun...@lists.csuchico.edu >> > [mailto:pen-l-boun...@lists.csuchico.edu] On Behalf Of michael a. >> > lebowitz >> > Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 12:40 AM >> > To: 'pe...@sus.csuchico.edu' <pe...@sus.csuchico.edu>; Progressive >> > Economics <pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu> >> > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] What is Cuba's GDP? [question posed on prog econ >> > list >> > >> > A friend who does work on the Cuban economy commented that you should >> > forget about the official gdp measure and consider only the ppp. He notes >> > that the WB has Brazil at about 15, Mexico at 16, Panama at 20 and Chile >> > at 22 (Argentina not given). And the US is 53 K. When I look at those >> > numbers and consider what Cubans produce, I find the number of 20 K not at >> > all unreasonable. We could talk about reducing it to 18 or whatever, >> > that’s more or less irrelevant – they rank about where they should by what >> > their country produces, compared to other LA countries. Yes, I know 20 K >> > seems like most Cubans do not have that in their pocket (and they don’t), >> > but most Brazilians do not ever see 15 K, most Mexicans do not see 16K, >> > and so on. Of course lots more one could say and discuss, but that’s the >> > super short form. >> > >> > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > WHILE I AM IN CUBA, PLEASE cc mlebo...@gmail.com FOR PERSONAL MAIL AS >> > THAT OFTEN IS EASIER TO DOWNLOAD >> > --------------------- >> > Michael A. Lebowitz >> > Professor Emeritus >> > Economics Department >> > Simon Fraser University >> > 8888 University Drive >> > Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 >> > Cuba home: 7 832 8189 >> > Cuba cell: 53 5 476 0553 >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > WHILE I AM IN CUBA, PLEASE cc mlebo...@gmail.com FOR PERSONAL MAIL AS >> > THAT OFTEN IS EASIER TO DOWNLOAD >> > --------------------- >> > Michael A. Lebowitz >> > Professor Emeritus >> > Economics Department >> > Simon Fraser University >> > 8888 University Drive >> > Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 >> > Cuba home: 7 832 8189 >> > Cuba cell: 53 5 476 0553 >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > pen-l mailing list >> > pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu >> > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pen-l mailing list >> pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu >> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pen-l mailing list >> pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu >> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
