The cost of a growth miracle – reassessing price and poverty trends in China

•China's economic development in recent decades has been tremendous, and reported poverty reduction very high.•But exact numbers are subject to debate.•This paper uses Engel curves to identify price levels and real incomes that are comparable across both time and space.•Find smaller price increases for the faster growing urban and coastal areas compared to the poorer rural and inland areas.•Adjusted numbers suggest a more moderate poverty reduction than reported by other sources.