Stylized facts and ‘factual facts’

It’s been said that China’s economic development is a qualified ‘win’ for developing countries, particularly the poorest. That’s almost a stylized fact. I’d say it’s a ‘factual’ fact too. At least if the Pew Global Attitudes survey is anything to go by.

As interesting as the slope of this relationship are the outliers. We can discount India’s position for historical reasons. That leaves Malaysia and Uganda as the key outliers. Malaysia is “too rich” to like China this much, whereas Uganda is “too poor” to be so negative on China.

Country specialists do weigh in …