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Comment by alok-g | Hacker News Reader

Newbie question:

>> India, long one of the fastest growing economies in the world, ...

The number given in support of the above statement is the annual GDP growth rate. However, as I understand, this is before adjustment for inflation, which also is high in India. I have been unable to find the numbers for inflation-adjusted "real" GDP [1] for India and other countries. Is India still the fastest growing economy when the real GDP is considered?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_gross_domestic_product

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Your understanding is incorrect: quoted growth numbers are real/constant-currency/inflation-adjusted, as per default in almost all economic reporting.

Global numbers can be found here: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG

This is great. Where can I read more about the terms (newbie here, looking for guidance) like constant-currency, or more broadly, the methodology used in measuring these numbers. Can I also see similar charts for inflation somewhere?

Wikipedia has most of the basics covered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product.

Global inflation numbers are also in World bank data: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG.

"official" data sources and aggregators (national statistics bureaus), IMF, World Bank, FRED can be heavy on economics jargon. Trading economics is probably a bit friendlier for the layperson.

" However, as I understand, this is before adjustment for inflation, which also is high in India" . No , India’s Consumer Price Inflation Falls to Record Low of 2.18 Percent ( https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-12/india-s-m...)

If inflation calculation used for GDP inflation adjustment is based on CPI, there is a problem already. GDP is measured using all products and services (perhaps with some exceptions), while CPI is measured using a very small subset. For the purposes of calculating inflation-adjusted GDP, inflation should be calculated using all the products and services that count towards the GDP.

In the meanwhile, the overall inflation as felt by the residents (in the cities where I am exposed to) is much higher than ~2% quoted, nearly around or even higher than the GDP growth rates mentioned.

Again, being a newbie, I would like to hear back if my understanding is incorrect.

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