Most of the US's extra growth relative to those countries is down to increasing population. You can look back 50 years and you won't find much difference in ter

Most of the US's extra growth relative to those countries is down to increasing population. You can look back 50 years and you won't find much difference in terms of growth if you control for number of people: http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=2&series=SP.POP.TOTL,AG.SRF.TOTL.K2,EN.POP.DNST,NY.GNP.ATLS.CD,NY.GNP.PCAP.CD,NY.GNP.MKTP.PP.CD,NY.GNP.PCAP.PP.CD,NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG,NY.GDP.PCAP.KD.ZG# http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=2&ser... By the end of that time period the US had become a much more powerful country, but the average person was not significantly more wealthy compared to those in other developed countries than they were at the start. Which would lead me to think the difference is mostly down to other factors - for instance natural resources, mining, timber, agriculture etc and also cheap plentiful land for house-building, the only industrial nation left standing after WWII, etc.