Mississipi is richer than Europe
mjperry.blogspot.com
Mississipi is richer than Europe
1–10 of 52 posts
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#2When did HN become a forum for country dickwaving?
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#3When did HN become a forum for country dickwaving?
(in response to the earlier comment that was "when did HN become a forum for politics" prior to edit - though I think this still applies) I'd agree that topics like this clearly straddle the line but they're also of interest to at least some of us - especially given the underlying question of what policies help/hurt us and create wealth? Some politics are unavoidable given their impact on startups.
It's also a pretty interesting factoid especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis that provides a bit of perspective where nearly every country is doing some introspective as to how it happened and when at least the US is about to adopt some policies that you could call European.
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#4When did HN become a forum for country dickwaving?
What a weird response. It is, to say the least, counterintuitive that, when PPP-adjusted, Mississipeans have greater buying power than Germans. It either suggests that something is wrong with the author's naive methodology of ranking countries, or that something weird is going on in Germany.
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#5Does PPP take into account things that are paid for with taxes (to a greater degree) in the EU and by insurance fees in the US, e.g. healthcare?
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#6On the face of it, this comparison seems pretty absurd. I haven't been to Mississippi, but I have been to many European countries, and can attest that Germany is pretty rich on the face of it, personal incomes aside. I wonder how such comparisons value public goods, and how well their basket of goods (for PPP weighting) is balanced.
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#7Does PPP take into account things that are paid for with taxes (to a greater degree) in the EU and by insurance fees in the US, e.g. healthcare?
Exactly. PPP is calculated in such a way that makes such gigantic jokes like this possible. You simply have to travel to see how funny it is. Has that person been to Mississippi, and has he been to Switzerland or Norway? I mean, come on.
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#8Does PPP take into account things that are paid for with taxes (to a greater degree) in the EU and by insurance fees in the US, e.g. healthcare?
Exactly. PPP is calculated in such a way that makes such gigantic jokes like this possible. You simply have to travel to see how funny it is. Has that person been to Mississippi, and has he been to Switzerland or Norway? I mean, come on.
I was waiting for someone to debunk this, but I have to ask --- everyone in Jackson has a Wal-Mart within a 5 minute drive, and the average home purchase price is $129,000. It isn't possible that people in Jackson have approximately the same standard of living as Germans, at a much lower price?
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#9One thing to remember is that a country where one person makes $120,000 and nine others make $20,000 has the same per-capita GDP as a country where ten people make $30,000 each. Also, as m_eiman points out, PPP does not account for social costs such as increased greenhouse emissions or declining infrastructure.
Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe
#10Does PPP take into account things that are paid for with taxes (to a greater degree) in the EU and by insurance fees in the US, e.g. healthcare?
Exactly. PPP is calculated in such a way that makes such gigantic jokes like this possible. You simply have to travel to see how funny it is. Has that person been to Mississippi, and has he been to Switzerland or Norway? I mean, come on.
But but but a coffee and cake at a Swiss Starbucks will cost you so much more! At least that's the way it was when I was last in Lausanne, but the views and free wifi (city-wide IIRC, judging by the SSID) made up for it.