How Do the Economic Outputs of China’s 8 Most Productive Cities Compare to Those of U.S. Cities?

Economic discussions involving the U.S. and China often focus on national-level matters such as currency valuation, duties, and trade policy. Yet decisions and economic activity at the local level are immensely important, as they form the building blocks of a strong national economy. This analysis therefore takes nominal gross metropolitan product (GMP) data from the eight most productive Chinese cities from 2009, the last year for officially reported data, and compares it to 2009 GMP data from U.S. cities. The U.S. data uses the metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the OMB and used by the BEA for its GDP statistics. For the Chinese data, the National Bureau of Statistics says that “counties under the jurisdiction of city governments are included,” which we interpret as being a concept similar to the metropolitan statistical areas used in the U.S. We chose eight cities because of the number 8’s significance as a sign of good fortune in Chinese culture.