The overriding, pervasive problem with regional comparisons is that people give undue attention to non-standard, arbitrary distinctions -- e.g. political border

The overriding, pervasive problem with regional comparisons is that people give undue attention to non-standard, arbitrary distinctions -- e.g. political borders -- where comparisons across standardized areas (e.g. those defined by the OMB) would be more useful and generate more informative results. This is an example of a good comparison in a never-ending sea of bad ones.