This morning I gave a talk to local sixth formers, half way through their economics A levels, about the contrasting US and Chinese economic systems, showing them snapshots from my trip to Beijing last week. One of the factoids that had stuck in my mind, illustrating the partial nature of China's development, came from my reading up. In John Pomfret's engaging book Chinese Lessons he sits in on a friend's driving lesson. It proves terrifying, the teacher little more able to drive than the pupil. Pomfret notes that China has double the US death rate in automobile accidents despite having one tenth the number of cars. Staggeringly, for Chinese people between 15 and 45, road fatalities are the principal cause of death. He writes:

“Driving tests? Many police departments will issue driver's licences to anyone with connections and the extra cash.”

For the equivalent of $3 a friend who has never even got behind a wheel is given a license.

The moral of course is that development is about so much more than GDP. The institutions and social norms prevailing in a society both affect its economic growth and reflect the non-GDP aspects of well-being.

When I took a vote in the classroom, an overwhelming majority said they would choose to live in the US rather than China. On the question of whether China's phenomenal growth will continue, it was about 50-50.

John Pomfret is 2nd left, front row.

* As an aside, I gathered from the teacher that there's a real buzz amongst pupils about economics at the moment, with lots of them choosing to study it at A level and applying to university to read it. Judging from the students I spoke to, they are massively interested in everything happening in the world at the moment. We got on to Greece and the Euro, UK spending cuts, American deindustrialisation, poverty in Africa, the financial crisis and the banks, financial literacy…. It was very exhilarating. So university teachers out there, please, please don't beat the interest and enthusiasm out of these budding economists when they get into your hands in a year's time!