Journal of Economics and Development Studies

Undervaluation of Imputed Rents in China’s GDP Compared with Japan: a Historical Review of Estimation Methods and Relevant Statistics*
Dr. LI Jie

Abstract
This study compares the statistics on and methods used to estimate imputed rents in China and Japan over time. The comparison allows us to make the following two main findings. First, before China’s first economic census in 2004, owner-occupied dwelling services as a proportion of GDP were seriously underestimated. Indeed, according to the official statistics, Japan’s per capita value-added real estate amount in 2003 was 200 times more than that in China, while Japan’s value-added real estate amount in 1994 (80% of which are owner-occupied dwelling services) was more than China’s total GDP. Second, even after the economic census, the Chinese statistics are still highly likely to be underestimated. Such an underestimation results from the scarce data on value-added real estate (especially for the tertiary industry) including GDP on the production side and household final consumption expenditure including GDP on the expenditure side.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jeds.v3n3a6