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Mississipi is richer than Europe

mjperry.blogspot.com

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Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#11

Post by tptacek »

jdburdette wrote: post #9

One 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.

It's not obvious to me that the infrastructure in Mississipi would be declining faster than the infrastructure in, say, Italy. At the very least, Mississipi is bound to have a much better road system.

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#12

Post by desu »

tptacek wrote: post #4
brazzy wrote: post #2

When 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.

Hm, the problem with PPP is that it's very unclear what it's measuring. Someone with a wal-mart nearby has a higher "PPP" than someone without it. Definitely Americans have access to a lot of cheap crap; it would not surprise me if an average income earner in the Mississippi could indeed buy more random junk each year than your average German.

Purchasing power and quality of life, though, are two very different things. The idea that your average "Mississipean" has a higher quality of life than your average German is laughable. Intuitively, I would have thought Germany was higher overall than the USA, quite a lot higher.

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#13

Post by davidw »

tptacek wrote: post #11
jdburdette wrote: post #9

One 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.

It's not obvious to me that the infrastructure in Mississipi would be declining faster than the infrastructure in, say, Italy. At the very least, Mississipi is bound to have a much better road system.

Italy's roads aren't that bad, actually (at least in the north). The problem is that they are covered with Italian drivers, and there are an awful lot of them: 60 million in an area a bit smaller than California. (Well, 60 million inhabitants - not all of them drive, but more drive than they ought to)

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#14

Post by barrkel »

tptacek wrote: post #8
david927 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Of all the European countries I've been to, Germany is the country that most reminded me of the US in terms of road patterns and layout, car orientation, big marts / malls with a lot of choice - far more choice than the average UK supermarket, in which it's unusual to see more than about 4 choices for any given commodity.

For context, I'm Irish and currently living in the UK, working for a US company and regularly visit the Santa Cruz area; I've been in Paris, Barcelona, Seville, Lisbon, Sicily, much of Italy, Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague, Bucharest, Budapest, Sofia, Athens, Lausanne, etc. I know my German girlfriend and her friends disagree with my perception - they see UK & Ireland as being quite different from the continent.

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#15

Post by dkarl »

tptacek wrote: post #8
david927 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Let's not blithely discount the judgment of all the people who pay twice as much for the same house elsewhere.

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#16

Post by davidw »

tptacek wrote: post #4
brazzy wrote: post #2

When 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.

I thought it was a pretty rational response if you're not interested in seeing this site filled with flame-bait like this.

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#18

Post by desu »

tptacek wrote: post #8
david927 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I guess that depends on what you mean by "standard of living".

I can give you a triple gold plated guarantee, though, that the Germans would not consider living in Jackson in your $129k house next to Wal-Mart a "high standard of living".

So, in summary, no, it's not possible. You should travel a bit. The whole idea is a complete joke. I mean seriously, would you rather live in Berlin or Jackson? Seriously? Berlin has a 24hr tram every 15 minutes, go whereever you like for like a euro. Some of the best nightclubs in Europe (America has 0 good nightclubs). What was that about cheap jars of pickles at Wal-Mart?

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#19

Post by desu »

barrkel wrote: post #10
david927 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lausanne!? That's practically in France!

edit: well it is!

Re: Mississipi is richer than Europe

#20

Post by jibiki »

dkarl wrote: post #15
tptacek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Let's not blithely discount the judgment of all the people who pay twice as much for the same house elsewhere.

Yes, there are many factors to consider. For instance, the average European probably enjoys much better weather than the average Mississippian.
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