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>> The US is on the brink of losing its status as the world’s largest economy Ahem, the EU has been the world’s largest economy for a while: http://en.wikipedi

>> The US is on the brink of losing its status as the world’s largest economy Ahem, the EU has been the world’s largest economy for a while: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29#Lists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nom...

tormeh 12y ago
Yeah, but it carries no geopolitical weight. The EU is very inward-looking since it hasn't really converged to a stable state, and it doesn't present a unified face externally. The EU and Europe doesn't have a lot of power and it doesn't really care, because it's too busy with internal problems.
mooreds 12y ago
Why does the EU count as an economy? It's not a nation state.
- taejo 12y ago
  The important thing is that it's not a state. The US and China are arguably not nation states either. Wikipedia says: nation can refer to "a people, race, or tribe; those having the same descent, language, and history." A nation state is where the nation and state coincide. For example, Japan is a nation state: it is a state comprised almost entirely of a single nation (the Japanese people), and almost all of the members of that nation live in the state. South Korea is not, because the Korean people are split between two states; the United States is not, because it is comprised of multiple nations/peoples/tribes.
- dredmorbius 12y ago
  It's a (mostly) unified economic region, with a single currency and very limited import/export restrictions among member states. It's also a set of distinct sovereigns, and there is limited labor mobility throughout the region as a consequence of both language and cultural differences. Which goes to show that defining what is (or isn't) an "economy" is somewhat fraught. Was the former Soviet bloc a single economy? How about the British Empire? There are arguments which can be made both ways.
Guvante 12y ago
Actually your link doesn't say that. It says that the EU's economy is larger than the US, but also that the US is the #1 economy. You have to pick EU as #1, or your member states as #X, Y etc. You can't have it both ways.

tormeh 12y ago

Yeah, but it carries no geopolitical weight. The EU is very inward-looking since it hasn't really converged to a stable state, and it doesn't present a unified face externally. The EU and Europe doesn't have a lot of power and it doesn't really care, because it's too busy with internal problems.

mooreds 12y ago

Why does the EU count as an economy? It's not a nation state.

taejo 12y ago
The important thing is that it's not a state. The US and China are arguably not nation states either. Wikipedia says: nation can refer to "a people, race, or tribe; those having the same descent, language, and history." A nation state is where the nation and state coincide. For example, Japan is a nation state: it is a state comprised almost entirely of a single nation (the Japanese people), and almost all of the members of that nation live in the state. South Korea is not, because the Korean people are split between two states; the United States is not, because it is comprised of multiple nations/peoples/tribes.
dredmorbius 12y ago
It's a (mostly) unified economic region, with a single currency and very limited import/export restrictions among member states. It's also a set of distinct sovereigns, and there is limited labor mobility throughout the region as a consequence of both language and cultural differences. Which goes to show that defining what is (or isn't) an "economy" is somewhat fraught. Was the former Soviet bloc a single economy? How about the British Empire? There are arguments which can be made both ways.

Guvante 12y ago

Actually your link doesn't say that. It says that the EU's economy is larger than the US, but also that the US is the #1 economy. You have to pick EU as #1, or your member states as #X, Y etc. You can't have it both ways.