Comparisons of Sub-national Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs), real GDP and living conditions are becoming increasingly important forcentral and local governments’ economic, social and political decision making, as well as for investment choices by entrepreneurs. Public and private policy makers are concerned withcomparisons of standards of living, well-being and poverty conditions across regions.Evidence based decision making requires critical information on real per capita expenditures and other economic aggregates comparable across regions. Sub-national PPPs emerge as anappropriate tool to convertprovincial or regional aggregates to account for spatial differences in prices of goods and services.

This Conference, the second after the first conference held at Renmin University of China, Beijing in 2015, brings together researchers from National and International Organizations and academic institutions to discuss and report latest developments on methods for the compilation of sub-national PPPs and the measurement of real GDP and comparisons of living conditions across cities and provinces. The Conference also provides a forum to discuss empirical applications focusing on sub-national PPPs in selected countries includingChina, India, Italy, Philippines and the United States of America.

09:00-09:30  Opening Ceremony

Introduction to the Conference: Yanyun Zhao, Guido Ferrari, Luigi Biggeri

Official Speech: WangJun, Director, Center for International Statistical Information, NBS

Comparisons of GDP and Living Conditions - the need for Sub-national PPPs

Chairman: D.S. Prasada Rao

09:30-09:55  SrikantaChatterjee (MasseyUniversity, Palmerston North), The ChangingMacroeconomicImbalances and the role of the PPP and other Exchange Rates in China’s GDP Estimation

09:55-10:20  Ranjan Ray*, AmitaMajumder**, and Ray Sattwik***(*Monash University, Australia, **Indian Statistical Institute, and ***Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, India), Global and Country PovertyRates, Welfare Rankings of the Regions and PurchasingPowerParities: How Robust Are the Results?

10:20-10:40  Coffee break

10:40-11:05  Luigi Biggeri*, and Monica Pratesi(*University of Florence and **University of Pisa), Poverty -Specific PPPs- Indicators at local level: issues and possible solutions

11:05-11:30  DongQiu (BeijingNormalUniversity), Some thoughts on PPP methodsapplied in China

11:30-12:00  Discussion

Current Research Projects on Sub-national PPPs by International Institutions

Chairman: Eric Figueroa

14:30-14:55  Yuri Dikhanov(World Bank), The computation of Sub-National PPPs: the ICPs research program and the experience carried out in Africa and Asia

14:55-15:20  Eileen Capilit(Asian Development Bank), The approach for computing Sub-National PPPs followed by ADB and results obtained for some east Asian countries

15:20-15:40  Coffee break

Current Research Projects on Sub-national PPPs by National Institutions

Chairman: Yuri Dikhanov

15:40-16:05  Bettina H. Aten, and Eric B. Figueroa(US Bureau of Economic Analysis), Real Personal Income and Regional Price Parities

16:05-16:30  Guido Ferrari*, and Yanun Zhao** (*University of Florence and **Renmin University of China), China Cross Province GDP and Living conditions Comparisons

16:30-16:55  Chao Fan(National Bureau of Statistics of China), A Review and Research Prospects of Country Product Dummy (CPD) Method

16:55-17:20  Fangdong Yu(National Bureau of Statistics of China),The Study on the Differentials of the Regional Price Level in China

Research on Sub-national PPPs by Academics

Chairman: Eileen Capilit

09:00-09:25  D.S. Prasada Rao, Robert J. Hill, Sriram Shankar and Reza Hajargasht(University of Queeensland, Australia), Spatial Chaining Methods for International and Sub-National Comparisons of Prices and Real Expenditures

09:25-09:50  Luigi Biggeri*, and Luca Secondi**(*University of Florence, and **University of Tuscia, Italy), Estimation of regional price parities for household consumption in Italy by using expenditure survey data

09:50-10:15  TizianaLaureti*, and Federico Polidoro**(*University of Tuscia and ** Italian National Statistical Institute, Istat, Italy), Testing the use of scanner data for computing sub-national Purchasing Power Parities in Italy

10:15-10:40  Coffee break

10:40-11:45  Round Table  The Computation of Sub-national PPPs and their Use in Cross Province GDP and Living Conditions Comparisons. Attendants: Dikhanov, Capilit, Figueroa, Polidoro, Pratesi, Wang Jun, Biggeri, Rao. Moderators: Ferrari, Zhao.

11:45-12:00  Closing Ceremony

Guido Ferrari, YanyunZhao,Liangqing Luo