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India's economy surpasses United Kingdom
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- bgarbiak 10y agoWith all the massive, extreme poverty in India this only shows how meaningless GDP is as a mean to illustrate economy's condition.
- bandrami 10y agoOTOH, the richest 3% of India (and that is some very rich people) is the size of the entire UK population, so from a global macro standpoint...
- gutnor 10y agoYes, there were conspiracy theories on some other site about education and how Chinese/Indian student could pay the oversea cost of university in the UK when "only the 1% would be able to afford that in their respective countries", so it is impossible that the UK universities budget was affected at all by them. That's 25 million people and the UK has prestigious universities attracting said people.
- orblivion 10y agoNot to defend the GDP overall, but you could just use a per capita GDP for that sort of comparison.
- noir_lord 10y agoGDP per capita is better than raw GDP but it still doesn't factor in wealth inequality, purchasing power parity etc. You can see the issue with a Representative economy here (UK) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/UK_Equivalised_Income_Distribution.png/600px-UK_Equivalised_Income_Distribution.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/UK... Of course the Government always uses Mean since it sounds a lot better.
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- denzil_correa 10y ago> but you could just use a per capita GDP for that sort of comparison GDP per capita would not tell you the distribution of wealth (or more accurately income).
- f_allwein 10y agoWell, the UK has massive inequality as well, although not on the scale of India. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/dec/16/brexit-britain-has-the-deepest-faultlines-of-any-country-i-have-known https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/dec/16/brexit-brita...
- 3pt14159 10y agoIt is not meaningless in terms of foreign policy. It's a good measure for importance in trade relations and industrial capacity for war.
- paki123 10y agoWhat's the anti-silver lining of this that HN never fails to point out? Probably something to do with child labor laws.
- karmacoda 10y ago"Owing to Britain's recent Brexit-related problems.." -- I'm not aware of any Brexit-related economic problems. On the contrary, all news I've seen since has been positive, to the surprise, and disappointment, of many.
- d3ckard 10y agohttps://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=B-lXWP3BD6Ti8AeIu6i4BA&gws_rd=cr#q=pound+to+dollar https://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=B-lXWP3BD6Ti8AeIu6i4BA&... This might help you see some problems.
- karmacoda 10y agoThis might help you see that view is simplistic: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37786467 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37786467
- vkou 10y agoFrom the article: "That pattern is however a rather unbalanced one, the only sector of the economy that continued to grow was services up by 0.8%; agriculture, manufacturing production and construction all shrank." What exactly about Brexit spurred this leap in the growth of yoga studios, burger chains, and Star Trek box office returns (A drop in the GBP, as it turns out, for the latter)? Because it seems like losses in everything else is pretty much what economists expected. Manufacturing declined despite a drop in the GBP.
- dmichulke 10y agoAll central banks continuously print money because they consider their currency "too strong" and say this will hurt exports. At some point the exchange rate falls and suddenly no one is happy with it either. Recent examples are China, GB, Brazil, Venezuela. The truth is - as with your comment - a surging/falling exchange rate is neither good nor bad. It has positive and negative effects and things will balance out. Or to say it differently: An exchange rate is never low, nor is it high, it is precisely where it should be. - Gandalf the Grey
- denzil_correa 10y agoThe phrase "economy surpasses" gives a very different impression. The only thing I can take is that India is now generating more income. I'm not sure what to make of it because if one were to look at the income/wealth distribution numbers where the richest 1% hold nearly 60% of India's wealth [0]. It would be interesting to see if this income is enough for India (under equitable distribution assumptions), to make India "unpoor". IF so, it would mean that India does not lack the money or resources. It lacks the means to distribute its resources. [0] https://www.credit-suisse.com/us/en/about-us/research/research-institute/news-and-videos/articles/news-and-expertise/2016/11/en/the-global-wealth-report-2016.html https://www.credit-suisse.com/us/en/about-us/research/resear...
- devoply 10y agoYeah and how is that number skewed in the US... India has a much better distribution than most Western countries. The problem is that it's divided over a billion people. UK has a significantly smaller population.
- denzil_correa 10y ago> The problem is that it's divided over a billion people. UK has a significantly smaller population. UK also is significantly smaller in size too. Just in case, the population density of England is higher than that of India.
- devoply 10y agodunno how area or population density affects economic output other than perhaps for agrarian economies that need the land. maybe real estate, but you can build up you don't need tons of land for that.
- denzil_correa 10y agoMore people, more services and more goods produced - more GDP.
- douche 10y agoA country as large as India, with over a billion citizens, ought to have a bigger economy than a small island nation that has turned its back on its historical engines of wealth and power.
- SixSigma 10y ago> its historical engines of wealth and power. slavery, rum, tobacco, wool, sugar, coal & sea power
- paullth 10y agoand tea of course
- eveningcoffee 10y agoThis comment sparked me to find this interesting website http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/ http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/
- SixSigma 10y agoYes, that is a depressing place - more slaves now than in all human history, if one counts indentured labour and other forms rather than "owning" someone by outright slave trading.
- douche 10y agoCertainly sea power. Also steel, armaments, shipbuilding, shipping, aeronautics, and all manner of other tangible goods and trade. Having 80% of your economy[1] tied up in parasitic service sector make-work and financial services smacks of decadence and decline. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/2ce78f36-ed2e-11e5-888e-2eadd5fbc4a4 https://www.ft.com/content/2ce78f36-ed2e-11e5-888e-2eadd5fbc...
- SixSigma 10y agoI live in the North, it used to be a powerhouse of textiles, coal and steel. Now it's just a shell of the glory days, there is no growth. It was no surprise the people here voted for Brexit. The SE sucks the wealth fro mthe nrest of the nation, taking the best investment with it. And we're only 200 miles away. Imagine Orlando having a baseline of $1m for a 3 bedroom house and Miami full of boarded up buildings.
- dep_b 10y agoIndia still has a long way to go on a social level (as does all of humanity in a sense) but I think things are really improving there at least, especially compared to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- eklavya 10y agoYou say it like there was ever a comparison here since just after independence.