Overview
1) Create a table that shows the GDP and GDP per capita for Singapore measured in current US
dollars and in PPP terms for the years 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2019. Use the World
Development indicators for the current USD and the Penn World Tables for the PPP.
2) Explain the difference between market exchange rates and PPP by referring to the numbers in
your table from part c). What causes the difference, which of the two numbers reflects more
accurately the GDP and GDP per capita, and why.
3) Create a table showing the GDP (PPP) and GDP per capita (PPP) for the US, Japan, and Singapore for the years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2019 using data from the Penn World
Tables. Interpret the numbers in the table in a comparative perspective. How large was the economy
of your country in 1960 compared to the US and Japan? What happened over the following
decades? Do the same comparative analysis for GDP per capita.
4) Create a graph of the GDP per capita (PPP) for the three countries in every year over the period
1960-2019. Explain what convergence means and why it is important. Then test whether there was
any convergence between Singapore, the US, and Japan by analyzing the graph.
5) Create a graph of the annual growth rate for your country over the period 1960-2019 (the WDI
database reports the annual growth rate in %).