> > Why not? The comparison is considered fair whenever it favors Northern Europe, so why is it unfair when NE doesn't do as well?
> US is a single country with a common language and culture.
True, but that doesn't explain why the comparison is fair in some cases and not others.
>> So, why is their GDP so much lower? We keep hearing how much better they are, so why doesn't it show up in output?
> In my opinion it's not a good comparison.
How about some support for that opinion? (And, as I noted, no one complains about such comparisions when they're trying to make the US look bad.)
> If we look at the GDP per capita, you will find lots of states with lower rates than many European countries.
Actually, you find a few states that would be in the middle/low europe and a fair number of states that are over the top.
But, so what? There's variation between and within European countries. There's variation between and within US states.
That doesn't change the fact that US per-capita GDP is significantly higher.
> If there was something special about the US political system that generates wealth, you would expect the results to be more evenly distributed.
Why would you expect that?
The US poor fare rather well on an absolute scale.
You seem to think that what your neighbor has matters more than what you have. I disagree.
As to "relatively similar culture", the US TV culture is fairly uniform and the areas that techsters see are fairly similar, but go to south San Jose and tell me that it's just like Palo Alto. Heck, go to East Palo Alto and Redwood City. (They're not the same.)
If you're willing to travel a bit more (the US is big), there is lots of cultural diversity. Do you really think that Madison Wisconsin is much like Dry Creek Missouri?
> US is a single country with a common language and culture.
True, but that doesn't explain why the comparison is fair in some cases and not others.
>> So, why is their GDP so much lower? We keep hearing how much better they are, so why doesn't it show up in output?
> In my opinion it's not a good comparison.
How about some support for that opinion? (And, as I noted, no one complains about such comparisions when they're trying to make the US look bad.)
> If we look at the GDP per capita, you will find lots of states with lower rates than many European countries.
Actually, you find a few states that would be in the middle/low europe and a fair number of states that are over the top.
But, so what? There's variation between and within European countries. There's variation between and within US states.
That doesn't change the fact that US per-capita GDP is significantly higher.
> If there was something special about the US political system that generates wealth, you would expect the results to be more evenly distributed.
Why would you expect that?
The US poor fare rather well on an absolute scale.
You seem to think that what your neighbor has matters more than what you have. I disagree.
As to "relatively similar culture", the US TV culture is fairly uniform and the areas that techsters see are fairly similar, but go to south San Jose and tell me that it's just like Palo Alto. Heck, go to East Palo Alto and Redwood City. (They're not the same.)
If you're willing to travel a bit more (the US is big), there is lots of cultural diversity. Do you really think that Madison Wisconsin is much like Dry Creek Missouri?