The Wall Street Journal‘s China Real Time Report has an interview with celebrity statistician Nate Silver:
Can you apply good data analysis to poor data, for example, in China?
People in the United States and the United Kingdom overestimate the quality of economic data. Even if people are above board, it is simply hard to estimate something like the American economy.
With China, you would have even more difficulty. I think the general lesson is that by looking at a broader consensus of indicators, you do well than just looking at one indicator or one sector.
It is problematic to think about “how do you measure Chinese growth”. One way [is to look at] more public facing measures — by looking, for example, at the amount of light output emanating from China.
I flew through Beijing [on the way to Hong Kong] — there was less physical brightness coming from Beijing than you would have seen from a comparable American city or European city.
A true cynic might suggest that the lights were dimmed by the pervasive air pollution in Beijing…
