Graph of the Day

A remarkable graph pointed to by Phil Magness who writes:

China’s GDP per capita hit its lowest point in the past 300 years under Maoism. Twice.

The first time was during the civil war and the second was the Great Leap Forward. Wojtek Kopczuk comments:

Even taking into account that these historical measurements are notoriously problematic and difficult to make comparable, the fact that it is even in the ballpark is shocking.