1/9/23 The day any sensible 'Brexit is an economic nightmare' argument died

[Branton Red]

Billy

The IMF statistics may be in constant dollars but they are converted into $ using Purchasing Power Parity not the prevailing exchange rate on the foreign currency markets.

I think that may be the root cause of your misinterpretation here.

To explain if a widget cost £1 in the UK but $2 in the US the PPP rate would be 1:2. This would not be the same as the exchange rate on the foreign currency market and would remain the same even after a sudden movement of the exchange rate - as seen in 2016.

Therefore the GDP growth figure I quoted are very much comparable country to country and movements in the exchange rate do not impact the relevance of the numbers as comparatives as you are suggesting as your primary argument.

Though obviously exchange rate movements will impact on what the GDP growth figures are in the first place - just like unemployment rates, inflation etc etc - so as I explained previously I am taking into account exchange rate movements

[SydneyRover]

Questions for the experts

Per capita GDP, distribution and wealth accumulation, how does social mobility affect this. Do countries that distribute wealth more fairly have better structured economies albeit possibly with a smaller economy overall.

Is it possible that those that live in countries with higher levels of social mobility receive a larger share of distributed wealth which gives them a better standard of living than those that don't.

Are any of the above valid questions?

Hey Sydney

You need the Gini Index which measures a country's level of inequality. The lower the number (out of 100) the lower the inequality.

There are several countries with very low Gini scores and very high GDP per capita e.g. Scandinavia and Benelux countries.

So you can have low inequality and high living standards.

The counter argument, esp for the big Western economies, is the US. It's Gini score is atrociously high but it's GDP per capita is much higher than most other big economies and, as I've alluded to above, it's economic growth rate in recent years is much higher too.

Thanks Branton, an article, based on a study suggested that if people believe/know distribution is fair they can accept inequality. Still have plenty to read.