south korea to pass japan economically

[akikaki1]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicd ... y-chart-16

glad to see taiwan projected growing rate. Didn't know taiwan was past south korea per person. I cant help but feel bad for japan, it was once past per person then US and now its 3x GDp in debt, country of growing old people.

[headhonchoII]

I have been visiting Korea for many years, salaried incomes in Korea are about twice Taiwan and the infrastructure is better. Just visit Korea and visit Taiwan , you will know the difference immediately. Their economy is also more diversified and more successful international companies with leading edge products. Taiwan is quite far behind Korea.

I also visit Japan a lot and while Korea has come on in leaps and bounds Japan's depth of science and technology is still ahead as is their more international city, Tokyo. In the industry I work in our only real competitors are 3 Japanese companies, nobody else!

[Super Hans]

Just out of curiosity, what industry are you in, HH?

[akikaki1]

I have been visiting Korea for many years, salaried incomes in Korea are about twice Taiwan and the infrastructure is better. Just visit Korea and visit Taiwan , you will know the difference immediately. Their economy is also more diversified and more successful international companies with leading edge products. Taiwan is quite far behind Korea.

does it matter how it looks? GDP per person PPP is still 5-6g's higher. altho infrastructure wise taiwan is behide every country

[headhonchoII]

Just out of curiosity, what industry are you in, HH?

Medical technology/biotechnology related.

[headhonchoII]

I have been visiting Korea for many years, salaried incomes in Korea are about twice Taiwan and the infrastructure is better. Just visit Korea and visit Taiwan , you will know the difference immediately. Their economy is also more diversified and more successful international companies with leading edge products. Taiwan is quite far behind Korea.

does it matter how it looks? GDP per person PPP is still 5-6g's higher. altho infrastructure wise taiwan is behide every country

Well of course it matters how things look. And PPP is not always a good way to look at things. You need a certain amount of money for foreign travel, education and imported goods for example. Just because you can afford to buy the same amount of peanuts and coffee as your mate in Korea may not help you when you want to afford a foreign degree or go to Rome for your honeymoon.

[Impaler]

I have been visiting Korea for many years, salaried incomes in Korea are about twice Taiwan and the infrastructure is better. Just visit Korea and visit Taiwan , you will know the difference immediately. Their economy is also more diversified and more successful international companies with leading edge products. Taiwan is quite far behind Korea.

does it matter how it looks? GDP per person PPP is still 5-6g's higher. altho infrastructure wise taiwan is behide every country

Well of course it matters how things look. And PPP is not always a good way to look at things. You need a certain amount of money for foreign travel, education and imported goods for example. Just because you can afford to buy the same amount of peanuts and coffee as your mate in Korea may not help you when you want to afford a foreign degree or go to Rome for your honeymoon.

Agreed. Thailand's "per capita GDP" (even PPP-adjusted) wasn't all that far off from Taiwan's, last time I looked.

I don't think anyone would dispute that the vast majority of Thais are much worse off than the median Taiwanese.

[akikaki1]

I have been visiting Korea for many years, salaried incomes in Korea are about twice Taiwan and the infrastructure is better. Just visit Korea and visit Taiwan , you will know the difference immediately. Their economy is also more diversified and more successful international companies with leading edge products. Taiwan is quite far behind Korea.

does it matter how it looks? GDP per person PPP is still 5-6g's higher. altho infrastructure wise taiwan is behide every country

Well of course it matters how things look. And PPP is not always a good way to look at things. You need a certain amount of money for foreign travel, education and imported goods for example. Just because you can afford to buy the same amount of peanuts and coffee as your mate in Korea may not help you when you want to afford a foreign degree or go to Rome for your honeymoon.

Agreed. Thailand's "per capita GDP" (even PPP-adjusted) wasn't all that far off from Taiwan's, last time I looked.

I don't think anyone would dispute that the vast majority of Thais are much worse off than the median Taiwanese.

Thailand current gdp-ppp for 2011 is 9400, not even close to Taiwan lol.

[Impaler]

Wow. You're right, I must've looked at the wrong figures before.

[headhonchoII]

A much better way to rate the overall development scale is median salary.
GDP is a measure of all economic activity, even activities such as transfer pricing are included. It's really not very useful on it's own.
PPP is handy for day to day living income vs expense calculations but it breaks down when you want to travel overseas or import anything of worth.
If I earn 20 USD a day and spend 15 USD I can save money but one mishap and I could be permanently in debt.
Both GDP and PPP do not capture the inequality in a society. If 20% of people earn 4 times more than the other 80% (this is ay least the situation in Taiwan) do you think GDP and or PPP are really a useful indicator of anything?