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通过文章阅读学习英语六级词汇 Unit thirty-two A Stunning Advance in Third World Productivity? Two weeks ago, China had the 10th largest economy in the world. This week it jumps to third, behind the U.S. and Japan. India, formerly No.11, leaps to No.6. Mexico climbs from No.12 to No.10. what has been going on? A stunning advance in Third World productivity? No, something more mundane but almost as far-reaching is taking place as the Washington-based International Monetary Fund switches to a different system for estimating the size of each countrys economy. Those most affected are rapidly industrializing nations such as Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand, and their upgraded status, is likely to change perceptions of the worlds economic balance of power. Says Robert Hormats: This new accounting underscores in quantitative terms just how powerful China, India and other developing countries are today, both as markets and as competitors. The IMFs latest calculations replace an accounting technique that valued in the U.S. dollars the output of goods and services in every nation. That system, still widely used by economists as well as by multilateral lenders like the world Bank, produces swings in a countrys gross national product, its total output of goods and services, every time the value of its currency shifts in relation to the U.S. dollar. The IMFs new gauge relies on purchasing-power parity, a means of calculating national income that many economists believe should have been put into practice long ago. Rather than GNP being measured in dollars, a national basket of goods and services encompassing the likes of transport, food, clothing and shelter is tallied in local currency and compared with purchasing power of similar goods and services in other parts of the world. This method provides a more accurate assessment of the value of what each person is able to buy, a figure that is multiplied by a countrys total population to reach an estimate of national output. Using this standard, the IMF pegs Chinas output as $1.7 trillion last year, far above the $400 billion used in earlier estimates. | 
