Comparative Economics

In the next couple of weeks those of you teaching macro will begin examining national economies. Sometimes it is hard for students to understand how large the U.S. economy is compared to many other nations. Consequently, it can help for them to have a comparison.

Over the past few years, there have been numerous charts like this one from The Economist (HT to Carpe Diem). It compares the GDP of a number of countries around the world to the GDP of the 50 states. In each case it's a close match. But what makes this version different is that it then also allows you to compare the state population to the populations of various nations. It's very interesting.