Issue Summary

In a new book about China, Harvard professor Graham Allison provides a list of astonishing facts about the country’s economic development. In 1980, its gross domestic product was less than $300 billion, with 90 out of every 100 citizens living on less than $2 per day. By 2015, GDP was $11 trillion, second only to the U.S., with just three out of every 100 living below the $2- per-day mark. Adjusting for purchasing power, China’s economy is already larger than that of the U.S. In 1980, China’s trade with the outside world was less than $40b. By 2015 it had…