Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Catching Up to the USA 1990 to 2017

Happy December!

I had so much fun last week with data I decided to do even more this week. This time I have some tables to discuss and they need a little explaining. But first, a little background. The idea today is to shed some light on how much the world has changed in the last 28 years. My data starts in 1990 and looks at changes through 2017. The data come from the International Monetary Fund; it's their measure of real GDP per capita. RGDP per capita is one way to measure changes in the economic welfare of the average person.

This sort of cross-country comparison is not easy. I chose per capita real GDP because it seems closest to the buying power of people in these countries. Country comparisons usually require conversions of non-US currencies to the dollar so all the GDP figures below have been translated to dollars. It is traditional for longer-run comparisons to use an exchange rate called the purchasing power parity value of the exchange rate to the dollar. The IMF used the 2011 PPP value of the dollar for these comparisons. Yes, using PPP is highly debatable but I am sticking with it!

Much has happened in the world since 1990. The Soviet Union imploded, and the Berlin Wall came down. Globalization re-started. Many free trade agreements were consummated. The year 1990 was a time when the USA had a considerable lead on most countries in terms of economic size and competitiveness. Home Alone was the most popular film in 1990, and Windows 3 was released by Microsoft.

Table 1 lists 36 countries I selected to compare with the US. In 1990, real GDP per capita in the USA was nearly $37k. Right behind the USA in 1990 were Germany, Italy, Canada, France, and Japan. Saudi Arabia was ahead of all these countries with a value of $46k. Among those at the bottom in 1990 were two countries freed from the Soviet Union (Lithuania and Latvia) and three Asian countries (China, India, and Vietnam).

Table 2 measures the growth of real GDP per capita of these same countries between 1990 and 2017.  During that time period US per capital GDP increased to almost $54k and grew about 2.5 times. Twenty-two of these countries grew faster than the USA. But three stick out in the list for growing more than the rest, with China growing 10 times between 1990 and 2017. You might say that since the per capita real GDPs of those countries were small in 1990, they had the chance to grow faster and that would be true. But notice that not all of those countries with lower incomes in 1990 grew so fast. Obviously the speed demons had something special going on that helped assist the growth. Latvia and Estonia took advantage of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Several Asian countries -- especially China, Vietnam, and India -- showed remarkable ability to change and grow.

Table 3 focuses on how fast this group of 24 is closing in on the per capita RGDP of the US. I did a double-take and then some research just to check the top line of Table 3 that shows Ireland's per capita real GDP was $66K in 2017. Ireland's value went from 60% of the US in 1990 to 120% in 2017. Now that is catching up! Where's the Irish whiskey? I am ready to drink to that. No offense intended to JD.

The order of countries in Table 3 is in terms of how much each country caught up to the US. Taiwan is second in the table because it went from 40% to 80% of US per capita RGDP. Countries that closed the gap on the US the most were Ireland, Taiwan, S. Korea, Lithuania, China, Latvia, Poland, Turkey, Vietnam, India and Israel.

Mexico is one of the countries that did not close the gap with the US. Mexico's per capita RGDP was about 30% of the US in 1990 and it remained at 30% in 2017. Canada's values were larger than Mexico's but Canada did not gain on the US either, remaining at about 80% of the US in 2017.

Some countries slid downward. For example, the bottom of the chart is taken by Saudi Arabia whose per capita RGDP was 120% of US in 1990 and fell to 90% in 2017. Other sliders were Italy, Venezuela, Greece, Japan Russia, France, S Africa, Brazil, Haiti, and Germany. Recall, the US grew by 2.5 times in those 28 years. These last countries grew slower than that.

There are many factors that contribute to a country's growth in real purchasing power. Today's blog post does not explain why some countries grew faster than others. But it does show quite a disparity in performance over a 28-year time period. We are not all the same in relative terms as we were when we watched Home Alone in 1990. These differences will reflect the bargaining positions and powers as trade and other relationships are fashioned in the years ahead. Understanding changes in economic power might be useful as we negotiate in the future.

Real GDP Per Capita (Purchasing Power Parity)
Source: IMF: World Economic Outlook Database October 2017

Table 1
Country 1990 2017
Argentina 11,225 18,844
Brazil 10,562 14,127
Canada 31,411 43,875
China 1,515 15,151
Colombia 7,523 13,174
Egypt 6,848 11,842
Estonia (1995) 11,003 28,684
Ethiopia 644 1,926
France 30,421 39,691
Germany 32,067 45,757
Greece 21,442 25,314
Grenada 7,210 13,470
Haiti 2,027 1,650
Hungary 17,015 26,348
India 1,802 6,538
Iran 11,571 18,255
Ireland 21,208 66,196
Israel 20,065 33,037
Italy 30,969 34,606
Japan 30,362 38,878
Korea 11,633 35,897
Latvia (1995) 8,298 24,873
Lithuania (1995) 9,307 29,105
Mexico 12,411 17,753
Poland 10,163 26,658
Puerto Rico 22,286 34,537
Russia 20,801 25,427
Saudi Arabia 45,643 50,365
South Africa 9,899 12,215
Spain 23,662 34,788
Taiwan 15,546 45,412
Turkey 10,834 24,109
UK 27,077 39,755
US 36,999 54,223
Venezuela 14,786 11,290
Vietnam 1,473 6,267

Table 2
Country 1990 2017 Change
China        1,515      15,151 10.0
Vietnam        1,473        6,267 4.3
India        1,802        6,538 3.6
Lithuania (1995)        9,307      29,105 3.1
Ireland      21,208      66,196 3.1
Korea      11,633      35,897 3.1
Latvia (1995)        8,298      24,873 3.0
Ethiopia           644        1,926 3.0
Taiwan      15,546      45,412 2.9
Poland      10,163      26,658 2.6
Estonia (1995)      11,003      28,684 2.6
Turkey      10,834      24,109 2.2
Grenada        7,210      13,470 1.9
Colombia        7,523      13,174 1.8
Egypt        6,848      11,842 1.7
Argentina      11,225      18,844 1.7
Israel      20,065      33,037 1.6
Iran      11,571      18,255 1.6
Puerto Rico      22,286      34,537 1.5
Hungary      17,015      26,348 1.5
Spain      23,662      34,788 1.5
UK      27,077      39,755 1.5
US     36,999      54,223 1.5
Mexico      12,411      17,753 1.4
Germany      32,067      45,757 1.4
Canada      31,411      43,875 1.4
Brazil      10,562      14,127 1.3
France      30,421      39,691 1.3
Japan      30,362      38,878 1.3
South Africa        9,899      12,215 1.2
Russia      20,801      25,427 1.2
Greece      21,442      25,314 1.2
Italy      30,969      34,606 1.1
Saudi Arabia      45,643      50,365 1.1
Haiti        2,027        1,650 0.8
Venezuela      14,786      11,290 0.8

Table 3
Country 1990 2017 Rel to US Rel to US Chg Rel
Ireland      21,208      66,196 0.6 1.2 0.65
Taiwan      15,546      45,412 0.4 0.8 0.42
Korea      11,633      35,897 0.3 0.7 0.35
Lithuania (1995)        9,307      29,105 0.3 0.5 0.29
China        1,515      15,151 0.0 0.3 0.24
Latvia (1995)        8,298      24,873 0.2 0.5 0.23
Estonia (1995)      11,003      28,684 0.3 0.5 0.23
Poland      10,163      26,658 0.3 0.5 0.22
Turkey      10,834      24,109 0.3 0.4 0.15
Vietnam        1,473        6,267 0.0 0.1 0.08
India        1,802        6,538 0.0 0.1 0.07
Israel      20,065      33,037 0.5 0.6 0.07
Grenada        7,210      13,470 0.2 0.2 0.05
Argentina      11,225      18,844 0.3 0.3 0.04
Colombia        7,523      13,174 0.2 0.2 0.04
Puerto Rico      22,286      34,537 0.6 0.6 0.03
Egypt        6,848      11,842 0.2 0.2 0.03
Hungary      17,015      26,348 0.5 0.5 0.03
Iran      11,571      18,255 0.3 0.3 0.02
Ethiopia           644        1,926 0.0 0.0 0.02
Spain      23,662      34,788 0.6 0.6 0.00
UK      27,077      39,755 0.7 0.7 0.00
US     36,999      54,223 1.0 1.0 0.00
Mexico      12,411      17,753 0.3 0.3 -0.01
Germany      32,067      45,757 0.9 0.8 -0.02
Haiti        2,027        1,650 0.1 0.0 -0.02
Brazil      10,562      14,127 0.3 0.3 -0.02
Canada      31,411      43,875 0.8 0.8 -0.04
South Africa        9,899      12,215 0.3 0.2 -0.04
France      30,421      39,691 0.8 0.7 -0.09
Russia      20,801      25,427 0.6 0.5 -0.09
Japan      30,362      38,878 0.8 0.7 -0.10
Greece      21,442      25,314 0.6 0.5 -0.11
Venezuela      14,786      11,290 0.4 0.2 -0.19
Italy      30,969      34,606 0.8 0.6 -0.20
Saudi Arabia      45,643      50,365 1.2 0.9 -0.30

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