Somewhat gossipy today...Don't blame me. Blame wiki instead:)

I was reading something about Ingrid Thulin during the lunch break. She married the founder of Swedish Film Institute, Harry Schein. He was a close friend of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden until he was murdered when walking home from a cinema on Sveavägen. One of his sons is actually our course instructor this quarter, a very gentle, low-key professor. Torsten once told me they were talking in this professor's summer house at Fårö when they heard the announcement of Ingmar Bergman's death from the radio. Now I see why this is quite possible.

But this is unthinkable in China, where children of high ranking government officials have been eroding a high share of GDP throughout the CCP's sovereignty. According to this article, “As of the end of March 2008, 27,310 people in mainland China have personal properties worth over 50 million yuan ($7.31 million) (not including overseas assets); 3,220 people own over 100 million yuan ($14.6 million). Of these 3,220 people, 2,932 of them are children of CCP high-ranking officials. The total assets they own is over 2,045 billion yuan ($299 billion). It was verified that the source of these assets was illegal benefit via power and influence of their families. ''

I like an interesting paper on corruption, Fisman, Estimating the value of political connections. It would be interesting to apply to China too. However, where can I find the data? Sigh.