For example, a provincial auto repair shop might have previously fixed three cars a week but officially reported only one; now it repairs just two cars, but payment for both is fully recorded in the statistics. The government can take pride in such signs of progress, but the wealth of the people under these conditions is not growing — it is declining.
When you're working with data like that, all you can really do is speculate. We'll know for sure only after a few decades I guess
Imagine having the guts to ask your old slave to return and help you with your run-down plantation