Measuring the Development of China by In-Use Product Stocks

In-use stock of a product is the amount of the product in active use. By classifying more than 100 concerned physical products into nine sectors, this study collected data on China’s in-use product stocks for the period... [ view full abstract ]

In-use stock of a product is the amount of the product in active use. By classifying more than 100 concerned physical products into nine sectors, this study collected data on China’s in-use product stocks for the period 1949-2014 and compared China’s historical evolution patterns of in-use product stocks in different terms (absolute, per capita, or per household) with those in the United States (data compiled by Chen & Graedel, PNAS, 2015). The results provide a new alternative of measuring the development of China from the perspective of physical products’ in-use stocks.

Findings include the following: (1) in-use product stocks in China have grown rapidly since 1978, and the majority of them are still increasing; (2) per household in-use stocks of color televisions, refrigerators, and washers in urban area, and of both monochrome and color televisions in rural area, have already reached or are approaching a saturation level; (3) both home appliances and electronics started to be used earlier, and their per household in-use stocks grew faster and were higher, in China’s urban area than in its rural area; (4) compared to the United States, in-use product stocks in China are still relatively low at present; (5) study on several groups of products, in each of which products provide similar or identical function (e.g., several transportation facilities), demonstrates that in-use stocks of products in a same group emerged and grew wave by wave; however, it took more than a century in the U.S. but only 30-40 years (since 1978) in China to have all these waves appeared. The results can be used as a complement method to measuring China’s development and urbanization level, as well as to analyzing the difference of living standard between China’s rural and urban areas. Future scenarios of in-use product stocks can also be modeled based on the data that have been developed in this study.