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Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

economist.com

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Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#271

Post by tcbawo »

l3mure wrote: post #218
awesome_dude wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Japanese directly intervened in their manufacturing companies, and shaped their economy via the Bank of Japan to "rebuild" and grow their economy. They also have a notoriously closed (to outsiders) economy.

Not to mention the crucial land reform project targeting landlords: > The government forced absentee landlords to sell all their land to the government. Farmers were allowed to own a small amount of farm land that they could rent out to others ( 2.5 acres or one hectare in most parts of Japan, and 10 acres or 4 hectares in Hokkaido), and had to sell any excess to the government. The government then sold this land, us…

Given the political climate in the US — with accusations of socialism flying left and right — it is fascinating that they were able to conceive and execute literal redistribution of farmland and that is has been held up as a exemplary example of successful reforms. Perhaps there is more to the story, punishing the social class/monied interests that prosecuted the war?

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#272

Post by [deleted] »

jhbadger wrote: post #130
Gareth321 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the substantive distinction in this context. If people are being murdered at higher rates in the U.S., this lends weight to the argument that America is doing something wrong, socially, compared to France.

Not saying it isn't, just that the conclusions people draw, like that is a result of Americans being fatter than the French and dying of heart attacks earlier isn't really the primary cause.

[deleted]

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#273

Post by pcrh »

areyousure wrote: post #217
pcrh wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who has spent time in both places will recognize this comparison as self-evidently flawed, probably for reasons underlying the statistical methods used. A comparison of the human development index between US States and European countries produces a result more in line with the lived reality: https://i.imgur.com/jcHhVk4.png

In case anyone is curious, as of 2021, 40 of the 50 US states have a higher Human development index than France. (France was chosen because as the OP and GP note, all 50 states have a higher average income than France.)

It's intriguing. GDP per capita comparisons between the US and Europe would suggest that almost all of Europe should have a lower standard of living than the US. However, this is not the experience of people who have lived in both places, principally because one needs a greater income in the US for the same standard of living compared to most of Europe. Perhaps this reflects over-valuation of the US dollar?

As to the Human Development Index, 2021 data places 13 European countries above the US as a whole [0]. This would be more in line with the experience of people living there.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Dev...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#274

Post by erodommoc »

boc wrote: post #260
rqtwteye wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" America operates on the principal that it is better to fail quickly and rebuild than it is to defend what’s not working to preserve the status quo for as long as possible." The US is also willing to neglect and disenfranchise significant portions of the population and let them live in poverty, homelessness and ghettos. When you walk around SF, LA or New York it's astounding that you have super rich people live next…

When you say “significant portions of the population” and then reference a segment of society that could collectively all fit inside one college football stadium, it feels like hyperbole. Despite what you read online, the amount of Americans who see unsheltered homeless on a daily basis is very low.

Off by over 5x:

- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released its 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) Part 1 to Congress. The report found 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2022 (https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HU...)

- Largest college football stadium: Michigan Stadium (Ann Arbor, Mich.) 107,601 (https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2018-07-30/25-big...)

- The population of Baltimore, MD is 576,498 as of the last census, so would be a closer point of comparison.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#275

Post by bugglebeetle »

boc wrote: post #260
rqtwteye wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" America operates on the principal that it is better to fail quickly and rebuild than it is to defend what’s not working to preserve the status quo for as long as possible." The US is also willing to neglect and disenfranchise significant portions of the population and let them live in poverty, homelessness and ghettos. When you walk around SF, LA or New York it's astounding that you have super rich people live next…

When you say “significant portions of the population” and then reference a segment of society that could collectively all fit inside one college football stadium, it feels like hyperbole. Despite what you read online, the amount of Americans who see unsheltered homeless on a daily basis is very low.

What’s your source for this claim? Something like 80% of Americans live in an urban setting. In no large city that I’ve ever been in can you go a day without seeing homeless people, unless you work from home and order all your food from an app.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#276

Post by randomdata »

foobiekr wrote: post #192
Tiktaalik wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your point about USA benefiting from a single big market is a strong one. Consider for contrast Canada, also a single language market, also geographically isolated, and sharing many of the inherent benefits of NA that America has. Canada though, not often considered a real economic dynamo in the same way as the USA. Well one big difference is that Canada is a relatively small population spread thin over an en…

A big issue for Canada is that the government focused on resource extraction.

The bigger issue is that isn’t just one government. And those governments largely do not allow free trade, especially historically. Only recently was a limited free trade agreement finally signed between provinces.

In the US, the federal government supersedes the individual states. It can come down heavy handed and say that trade between states is there to go nuts with. In Canada, the federal government is only an equal to the provinces and must stay in its lane. Matters like interprovincial trade is beyond its jurisdiction.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#277

Post by phist_mcgee »

ip26 wrote: post #253
PostOnce wrote: post #166

My 2 cents, some of the reasons America succeeds: (fact) America is a single market with a single language with basically a single set of regulations. Expansion is cheap in America. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to expand to another US city than it does to expand to Norway or New Zealand; but for a company in those countries, expansion is very expensive, expanding requires new laws, regulations, business entiti…

I am constitutionally incapable of lowering my expectations My heart swells at this part and I want to cheer.

To outsiders, this dogmatic 'exceptionalism' appears revolting.

My 2c.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#278

Post by WalterBright »

l3mure wrote: post #218
awesome_dude wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Japanese directly intervened in their manufacturing companies, and shaped their economy via the Bank of Japan to "rebuild" and grow their economy. They also have a notoriously closed (to outsiders) economy.

Not to mention the crucial land reform project targeting landlords: > The government forced absentee landlords to sell all their land to the government. Farmers were allowed to own a small amount of farm land that they could rent out to others ( 2.5 acres or one hectare in most parts of Japan, and 10 acres or 4 hectares in Hokkaido), and had to sell any excess to the government. The government then sold this land, us…

Japan's prosperity did not stem from agriculture.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#279

Post by WalterBright »

pigsty wrote: post #238
WalterBright wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US was very helpful in protecting Cuba from the competition from the US economy. Somehow, that didn't work out for Cuba.

Probably because every powerful economy of the past 6 centuries got there due to strong trade, which the US has gone out of its way to prevent Cuba from doing. No country with a strong economy got there by being forcibly isolated from the world.

And yet the same people say that protectionism is good for the economy.

Re: Lessons from America’s astonishing economic record

#280

Post by irrational »

roflyear wrote: post #261
dopidopHN wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s more than say, Spain+Germany+France+Italy+Uk

Well I guess the US has this problem too. I lived in a town where a significant portion of the population didn't speak English fluently

I think the downvotes are thinking you are joking about peoples’ english proficiency, while I assume you just mean there is a large Hispanic population in your town.
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