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0 pointssampo10y ago0 comments

> China (still the second largest economy in the world by a large margin, btw)

What is the largest?

0 comments

seanmcdirmid10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

The EU if you count it as a country, otherwise the USA.

sampoOP10y ago

Ah, what a difference nominal vs. PPP makes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28no...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP...

meric10y ago

I think the use of PPP is more appropriate than nominal - the former measures how much goods and services the country produces while the latter measures how many US dollars those goods and services sell for. A hamburger is a hamburger - Last time I tried it actually tasted better in a Chinese McDonald's than the Aussie counterpart.

seanmcdirmid10y ago

A hamburger at McDonalds often costs more than in the states. Many things are more expensive here. You want to drive a car? Ah, that will be $60k please. We spent 120 RMB on a bottle of shampoo and conditioner last week..I told my wife that is almost $20!

1 more reply

Tiksi10y ago

It's a comparison of nations' economies, and from the wikipedia article on PPP above:

  It is however limited when comparing the size of national economies; GDP PPP is designed to compare the purchasing power of the citizens of one country against those of another country rather than the total size of national economies.

So it doesn't seem appropriate for comparing the size of national economies.

ajross10y ago

Uh... The subject at hand is international trade. How exactly is PPP not literally the worst possible metric for comparing the economies?

1 more reply

sampoOP10y ago

> A hamburger is a hamburger

But by selling a hamburger in the US, you can buy several hamburgers in China...?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

seanmcdirmid10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

The EU if you count it as a country, otherwise the USA.

sampoOP10y ago

Ah, what a difference nominal vs. PPP makes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28no...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP...

meric10y ago

seanmcdirmid10y ago

1 more reply

Tiksi10y ago

It's a comparison of nations' economies, and from the wikipedia article on PPP above:

  It is however limited when comparing the size of national economies; GDP PPP is designed to compare the purchasing power of the citizens of one country against those of another country rather than the total size of national economies.

So it doesn't seem appropriate for comparing the size of national economies.

ajross10y ago

Uh... The subject at hand is international trade. How exactly is PPP not literally the worst possible metric for comparing the economies?

1 more reply

sampoOP10y ago

> A hamburger is a hamburger

But by selling a hamburger in the US, you can buy several hamburgers in China...?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse