3 ms·

Which pair of western countries have the property of one having a higher GDP than the other and also a lower standard of living for some demographic of people p

• notahacker 11y ago
  GDP per capita rankings vary hugely according to who's doing the calculations, and precisely when, so Western countries frequently swap places. That's a quick reminder that GDP really isn't that much more neutral and objective than other development rankings, especially when you have to choose between vast arrays of possible baskets of relevant goods, intra-country price variations and inter country purchasing habit differences to construct purchasing power parity measures. That said, Ireland still performs very well in recent nominal GDP rankings, even relative to the likes of Germany, yet has huge unemployment problems and is universally agreed to be in a worse economic state than Germany. The poor in the US are usually regarded as being far worse off than the poor in most Western European countries, but the US almost invariably comes out on top.
  • disgruntledphd2 11y ago
    Just as an FYI with regards to Ireland - GDP is not actually an appropriate measure in the presence of large multinationals and their tax-avoidance schemes. The money flows through the country, but doesn't actually have much impact on the economy. In general, GNP is better for countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg.