Yes hence my gold standard mostly rests upon that which is confirmed by 2 or more parties....foreign trade and investment is actually a great example where its done...thats why I dont go down the route of the people (especially if they havent visited China for themselves) saying everything China claims growth wise is false/overly-exaggerated etc. But I likewise do not care much for tiny percentage point comparison of nominal GDP (in many chinese members response) which is inherently itself a somewhat flawed process (like everything in macro-econometrics, the debate really becomes about the degree of the flaw in the end).
The application (of 2 way confirmed external stuff) more broadly to the internal.... inevitably gets fuzzier (especially when you factor in non-economic context), especially when you are
not the issuing authority of the reference measurement (rather just treat it as an asset that you process/accumulate to some degree like any other) in the first place
...and then use this for specific points of a percentage comparisons even. In fact this basic thing done over a long enough period of time could theoretically lead to the lower PPP multiplier (to some degree) like is found in China compared to India...but of course little scope to prove this as it stands either way...since that needs massive transparency of all kinds of data chains...which most countries will not do (for fear of emperor's new clothes kind of situations bubbling up...rather than simmering down over time by the sheer bulk imposed on top).
I talked about this kind of stuff at much greater length (potential nominal GDP "laundering" with "inflation") with Bangladesh as you know for example (given they dont even use the same larger IMF standards as China and India do...and thus even more scope in their case imho if there is internal political benefit and external way to rebase their loan collateral a wee bit better than the credit ratings allow them to etc.). I should at some point do a similar extended analysis with Pakistan's case....but right now a lot more things are shifting around with them and are not so settled....and its somewhat less apt for me to reach the meaty parts in this forum like I can with Bangladesh and India case etc....given the politics/perceptions.
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