How About Europe Learning from Mississippi?

    In a New York Times editorial last year titled "Learning from Europe" Paul Krugman wrote:

    "The story you hear all the time about Europe — of a stagnant economy in which high taxes and generous social benefits have undermined incentives, stalling growth and innovation — bears little resemblance to the surprisingly positive facts. The real lesson from Europe is actually the opposite of what conservatives claim: Europe is an economic success, and that success shows that social democracy works. The European economy works; it grows; it’s as dynamic, all in all, as our own."

    The BEA recently released data for the amount of GDP produced by U.S. states in 2010 , which allows for a updated comparison of output per capita in U.S. states (Note: Per-capita GDP is provided by the BEA in 2005 dollars, and those amounts have been adjusted to 2010 dollars for comparison to other countries in 2010) to European countries (and Japan and Canada), see table below (international countries are adjusted for PPP).  Key findings:

    1.The European Union as a group ($32,700 GDP (PPP) per capita in 2010) ranks below America's poorest state, Mississippi ($32,764).

    2. Even relatively wealthy (by European standards) Switzerland would rank #32 as a U.S. state, behind Georgia.  The countries of Belgium and Germany would rank even lower at #46 and #47, and the U.K., Finland, and France would be close to the bottom of American states, below #48 South Carolina.  

    3. Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal all rank below America's poorest state (Mississippi) for GDP per capita.

    MP: Paul Krugman's assessment of Europe's economic success bears little resemblance to the surprisingly negative facts, which are actually the opposite of what Krugman claims.  With a few exceptions, the amount of economic output produced per person would rank most European countries among America's poorest states.  And even America's poorest states like Mississippi and West Virginia would rank above average among the countries of Europe.  When it comes to economic success, the data suggest that Europe has a lot more to learn from the U.S. than vice-versa.

     GDP per Capita: U.S. States vs. Europe, Japan and Canada, 2010


     Rank    GDP per Capita, 2010 
    District of Columbia$168,327
    Luxembourg$81,383
    1Alaska$70,814
    2Delaware$69,880
    3Wyoming$68,162
    4Connecticut$66,022
    5New York$59,596
    6Massachusetts$58,339
    7New Jersey$55,715
    8Virginia$53,113
    9Colorado$52,205
    Norway$52,013
    10California$51,905
    11North Dakota$51,882
    12Minnesota$51,238
    13Maryland$51,224
    14Washington$50,912
    15Illinois$50,581
    16South Dakota$49,741
    17Texas$49,119
    18Nebraska$48,708
    19Hawaii$48,697
    20Oregon$48,590
    21Louisiana$48,068
    22Iowa$46,791
    23Rhode Island$46,688
    24New Hampshire$46,295
    25Nevada$46,136
    26Kansas$44,621
    27North Carolina$44,568
    28Pennsylvania$44,471
    29Wisconsin$43,446
    30Indiana$42,266
    31Georgia$41,720
    Switzerland$41,663
    32Utah$41,528
    33Vermont$41,290
    34Ohio$41,240
    Netherlands$40,765
    35Missouri$40,515
    36Tennessee$40,239
    37Florida$39,988
    38Arizona$39,910
    39Oklahoma$39,724
    Austria$39,634
    40New Mexico$39,475
    Canada$39,057
    41Michigan$38,959
    42Maine$38,623
    Ireland$38,550

    Sweden$38,031
    43Kentucky$37,209
    Denmark$36,450
    44Idaho$36,113
    Belgium$36,100

    Germany$36,033
    45Alabama$36,002
    46Montana$35,895
    47Arkansas$35,161
    48South Carolina$35,034
    United Kingdom$34,920

    Finland$34,585

    France$34,077

    Japan$33,805
    49West Virginia$33,738
    50Mississippi$32,764
    European Union$32,700
    Spain$29,742

    Israel$29,531

    Italy$29,392

    Greece$28,434

    Portugal$23,223

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How About Europe Learning from Mississippi?


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