13 January 2011

The Economies of US States


The Economist has this creative graph, showing how the US states compare to various countries in terms of GDP (and population).

Colorado is compared to Thailand, but it could have also been Portugal.  A big difference in comparing US states to other countries is that Colorado, like virtually every other states, has to operate under a mandated balanced budget.  So even though Portugal and Colorado share similar size economies, Portugal's economy matters far more in the global economy than does the Colorado economy.