Question

Web-Based Question: Per Capita GDP and the Growth Rate of GDP Visit the CIA Factbook website  (Links to an external site.). Find the following information:

Country	Population	GDP - Purchasing Power Parity	GDP - real growth rate	GDP - Per Capita
U.S.	329.3 Mill	19.49 Trillion	2.2%	$59,800
Japan	125.5 Mill	5.443 Trillion	1.7%	$42,900
China	1.4 Billion	25.36 Trillion	6.9%	$18,200

1. Compare and contrast the economies of the three countries based on the data you find. Draw some conclusions about the data. (Also, there is a summary of each economy on the web site to give you some background and perspective. However, do not regurgitate that summary to me. I want your own analysis of the data.)

Answer 1

There are quite a few points that we can understand from the data-

• In real terms, China is the biggest economy in the world. The Chinese economy output is $25.36 trillion in chinese purchasing power terms. The US economic output, in US terms, is 19.49 trillion only.
• While Japan is smaller than both US and China in overall economy size, it is far richer in per capita terms than China.$42900 vs $18200. This is due to much lower population of Japan.
• In per person terms, US is the richest, with 59800 per capita output.
• It show that the poorer a country on a per capita basis, the larger is its PPP differential usually. US economy is about same in both nominal and PPP terms, same with Japan. But Chinese economy is very different size when compared in nominal USD terms and PPP terms.
• It also shows that there might be a larger luxury market in the US or Japan because their population is richer. On the other hand, there will be far bigger market of necessary and small ticket items in China as its population is poorer, but is far larger.
• Looking at the growth rate, it is clear that China will keep becoming even bigger- possibly crossing US output in nominal terms too, soon. Its per capita will take a long time to reach US levels though. Japan, on the other hand, will keep becoming relatively poorer compared to both US and China as its growth rate is very small.