Credit Suisse has sponsored Professor Wang Xiaolu of the China Reform
Foundation in his second study of China’s grey income and income distribution:
■ Almost Rmb10 tn in hidden income, or 30% of GDP. Based on a creative
survey technique focusing on the correlation between income and spending
patterns, and with over 4,000 samples across 19 provinces in China,
Prof. Wang estimates that the per-capita disposable income of urban
Chinese households in 2008 should be Rmb32,154, 90% above the official
data. Total hidden income could total Rmb9.3 tn, 30% of GDP, with about
63% of hidden income in the hands of the top 10% of urban households.