Taking what you said into account, there is already a measure of this. There are two types of GDP, nominal and PPP. Nominal measures GDP with a strait exchange rate. PPP measures it by looking at purchasing power. Both types of GDP are available on wikipedia. I’m not sure which type this guy used however. You are probably right though, there would be much less descrepancy if PPP was used. For example, chinese people are ~4 times more productive with PPP.

It’s interesting that the GDP/population ration is most equivalent between first-world nations. eg – Canada vs Texas, pop within about 30% having roughly equal GDPs – says that these compared areas generate similar monetary values with a similar population base.

And then looking at 3rd world nations vs states, eg Pakistan(141.4) vs Arkansas (2.7) shows an immense discrepancy of efficiency. but perhaps it’s not efficiency, but relative monetary values – 1 Pakistan rupee = 0.016495 U.S. dollars (60 rupees = 1 USD). If you compare this to the populations: 141.4 / 2.7 = 52.3, I can see that perhaps it’s the monetary difference that’s so extreme.

I suppose to have validity, we’d have to compare living costs in pakistan with Arkansas – ie – if someone from Arkansas can purchase a loaf of bread for 1 dollar, can someone from Pakistan purchase the equivalent for 1 rupee? And if the average cost to rent a house in Arkansas is $500 /pcm, is a similar domicle in Pakistan 500 rupee per month? And if the avg Arkansas wage is $20,000, is the avg Pakistan wage 20,000 rupees?

I haven’t gone to all the effort to compare each of these examples, but I have done some world travelling and have noticed that people all over the world sometimes seem to live relatively using similar currency levels. eg, I currently live in the UK, and notice that compared to America, the prices of most items are similar – if you don’t take the exchange rate into consideration (and of course regional taxation rates will wildly skew certain items like gasoline) – eg A loaf of bread in the US can be purchased for a dollar, whilst in the UK a similar loaf wil be 1 GBP, renting a house will be about $1000, while in the UK it’s about 1000 GBP. A job that pays $30,000 in the US will probably be pay about 30,000 GBP, etc

And of course, since the data was about 3 years out of date, the Canadian comparison will be slightly different – 3 years ago the exchange rate was about 0.70 CDN per 1 USD, and now the currencies are roughly equivalent.

Anyhow it’s my pet theory, and thanks for all the fish. ;)

Lance

S.

Yes you remember correctly. I’ve actually posted a few times about this:

• How Rich Are You?
• Compare Your Salary
• Wanna Feel Pathetic? Compare Your Salary…

I think it’s the first link you were referring to.

John

Yes you are correct. The labels and corresponding numbers refer to the population.

I guess I could have appended the GDP numbers as well… but just compiling this data took me hours and I was sick of it by the time I was done. :-) Hey, at least I linked to every single state and country in Wikipedia!

John

so a population of 4.5 Million in Alabama has the same GDP as 65 Million Iranians.

John, pls correct me if I am wrong.
But indeed some numbers about the value in $ would be great.

cheers

Rhoody

It was eye opening if nothing else to see how little others made and how a $30,000 millionaire as they say around here, really could be a millionaire in another country somewhere..

In any case, still fairly interesting to think about, especially because the U.S. is always a target for blame and contention.

Norway was the only one I saw that didnt fit in…

Kim:)