China's new canal, Baltimore's new bridge, and NYC's wheelchair ramps: The GDP problem
Bullets:
Purchasing Power Parity is a tool to standardize GDP measures across economies, to account for large differences in cost in different countries.
China is opening a new $10 billion canal, that will transform trade routes in Southeast Asia.
The project includes 27 new bridges, and capacity for 5,000-ton cargo vessels that will dramatically cut shipping times and costs for China's interior provinces.
Report:
Good morning.
We have major problems, when we try to compare GDP across different economies. For one, different countries measure their own GDP differently than others. There is a measure called Purchasing Power Parity, which tries to get a handle on some of the other challenges that come from relative values, by adjusting the data based on how much goods and services cost in local economies.
That in mind, consider this new canal that will open this year. The Pinglu Canal is a $10 billion waterway that took four years to build, and connects landlocked provinces in China with markets in Southeast Asia. It’s 83 miles, and will reduce the time and cost of shipping. It’s big enough to handle 5,000-ton cargo ships, and includes 27 new bridges.
It much less expensive to ship by ship, compared to rail or truck, so this new canal will make factories in the interior of China cost-competitive with those in the East. Currently those factories are hauling product by truck or rail over 500 kilometers, at a far higher cost per ton. The Pinglu is China’s first artificial waterway in over a thousand years, and has created 45,000 jobs.
Summing up: the Pinglu Canal project is an 83-mile-long canal, with 27 bridges, that took four years and cost $10 billion.
In Baltimore, Maryland, the Transportation Authority just more than doubled their cost estimates to replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and also doubled how long it would take them to build it. The original estimate was $1.9 billion and would open in late 2028. Now it’s around $5 billion with an opening date of late 2030.
In New York, the Metro Transit Authority is spending over $68 billion to upgrade the subway system, and over $5 billion will go to putting in wheelchair ramps and modernizing the elevators. Also they will make the entrance gates wider, to accommodate people in wheelchairs, across 150 stations, by 2055.
All of this spending, in Baltimore, and in New York, and in China, contributes to GDP. That bridge in Baltimore—whatever the final number is—will add billions in GDP to the local economy of Maryland, and to the country’s GDP. That $5 billion that New York is spending to build wheelchair ramps and wider gates and elevators, also contributes to the GDP of New York, and to the country’s GDP.
China spent about as much--$10 billion over four years—as New York plus Baltimore are spending for some wheelchair ramps and for one new bridge, and got a 80-mile-long canal, 27 new bridges, and shipping lanes that will transform trade routes for over three billion people living in Southeast Asia.
Be good.
Resources and links:
How China built a giant modern canal in just four years
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-02-02/How-China-built-a-giant-modern-canal-in-just-four-years-1KqUPQAxfY4/p.html
Why Waterways?
https://waterways.arkansas.gov/education/why-waterways/
China has plans for grand canals
https://www.economist.com/china/2022/09/15/china-has-plans-for-grand-canals
Are we measuring China’s GDP wrong?
Maryland officials release timeline, cost estimate, for rebuilding bridge
https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-body-found-cdd8441c5dff48028d1e141b943ca31e
Maryland more than doubles cost estimate on rebuilding collapsed Baltimore bridge
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maryland-doubles-cost-estimate-rebuilding-collapsed-baltimore-bridge-rcna244558
China nears opening of $10 billion canal, linking heartland to Southeast Asia
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Network
https://www.nyc.gov/site/mopd/publications/accessiblenyc-2025-report-transportation.page
Brilliant - your subjects are among the best on China - concise and clear. Can you look at some of the problems that exist in China and explain how they have arisen and how they've been tackled? I see a load of propaganda about the 3 Gorges Dam collapsing. There is so much hate for China (and Russia) and so it could be CIA propaganda. But sensible people know that ALL projects have problems. I did hundreds over the years and while there was never a major failure a number went wrong and had to be corrected. The real test of management and engineers is to monitor things so that when they do go wrong a correct diagnosis of the problem can be made so it is fixed.
!!! THESE ARE GOOD EXAMPLES !!!
For Comparing AMERICA'S "I Am Alright Jack, Screw The Customer And Maximise My Profits At All Cost" CAPITALISM and CHINA'S "Prioritise The Social Benefits And Do Things In The Most Effecient Way" CAPITALISM!
* IT'S WHY! China Is So Good At Developing Infrastructure.
* IT'S WHY! America Fails So Dismally And Spends So Much On Infrastructure!
AMERICA Prioritise PROFITS And 9Worships MAMMON!
CHINA Prioritise SOCIETY And Effeciency! And Makes Social Cohesion And Stability It's Ultimate Aim!
PS.
A Speech Made By Abraham Lincoln At His First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
* Can You Imagine Such A Statement Being Made By An American President Today In Congress!
** I Am Not An American But Am "A Anti-American Government Americanophile!" (A Contradiction Know).
One Of My Lifetime Questions Is "How? Why? And When? America Went Wrong?!"
*** I Am Prevented From Directly Subscribing To Your Content On Substack Due To The INVASIVE AGE RESTRICTION LEGISLATION OF THE UK. And I Refuse To Partake In This Government Invasion Of My Privacy. The AGE RESTRICTION LAW, Which Was Supposed To Prevent Children Gaining Access To Porn Sites! Is PATENTLY NOW BEING USED AS A FORM OF CENSORSHIP And HARASSMENT By The UK Government, For Gathering Data On Individuals!!!
I Will Subscribe After Arranging A VPN.