Britain Is Poorer Than Any US State (2014)

The whole place is basically a big rust belt. Industry is dead, martitime doesn’t generate a lot of jobs, the US captured tech, and banking produces money but not employment.

Re: Britain Is Poorer Than Any US State (2014)

#9

Post by vkou » Fri, Sep 14, 2018, 2:10 PM UTC

This article keeps talking about mean GDP.

Unless you live in a perfectly communist society, mean GDP is a poor proxy for how wealthy the people in it are.

Additionally, if the author wants to adjust for PPP, they should also adjust for cost of healthcare, education, median transportation expenses - all of which are much higher in the US. (All right, median transportation expenses may be higher in the UK. I honestly have no idea.)

Also, it's worth considering how much GDP in each country is spent on projects that don't improve anyone's life. If half your GDP is spent on building tanks and submarines and nuclear weapons, while your people want color TVs and washing machines, or a health system that won't bankrupt them, it's often not the best use of your economic output.

Re: Britain Is Poorer Than Any US State (2014)

#10

Post by greesil » Fri, Sep 14, 2018, 2:10 PM UTC

GDP per capita per hour worked is a better metric to use when comparing countries. Most Western European countries have fewer hours worked per worker, but when they work have the same productivity. I'm not sure about the gini coefficient, but both of the numbers given seem low. The US's was over 0.42 from what I've read in other sources.