Go the Web site containing the Penn World Table and collect data on real GDP per

Question

Go the Web site containing the Penn World Table and collect data on real GDP per capita (chained series) for 19770 for all available countries. Do the same for a recent year of data, say one year before the most recent year available in the Penn World Table.

After obtaining the data, answer the following questions:

Rank the countries according to GDP per person in 1970. List the countries with the 10 highest levels of GDP per person in 1970. Are there any surprises? Explain your answer.

Rank the countries according to GDP per person in the most recent year for which you collected data. List the countries with the 10 highest levels of GDP per person. Has the composition of the 10 richest countries changed since 1970? Explain your answer.

For each of the 10 countries you collected data for, divide the recent level of GDP per capital by the level in 1970. Which of these countries has had the greatest proportional increase in GDP per capital since 1970?

Explanation / Answer

1.)

Yes. Normally one doesn't think of India or Brazil as economic powerhouses back in the 1970s. But the data shows that they were, in fact, among the richest countries of the time.

1970:

United States = 1024800
Japan = 358333.8
Germany = 307345.64
France = 202055.49
Italy = 187388.58
United Kingdom = 185083.95
China Version = 162261.63
India = 119906.75
Spain = 97195.86
Brazil = 91033.86

2.)

Yes. European nations such as Germany, France, and Italy--while remaining in the top ten--have lost ground to the developing economies of countries such as China and India. Even Japan, the topdog Asian country of the 1970s, has lost ground to them. Spain has dropped out of the top ten, and Russia has managed to muscle its way into the list.

2010:

United States = 14447100
China Version = 11698415.78
India = 4687277.84
Japan = 4394412.49
Germany    = 3126077.74
United Kingdom = 2398115.4
Russia = 2370326.21
France = 2281305.41
Brazil = 1961701.02
Italy = 1930552.8

3.) Based on the data: China, by a large margin.

China Version = 72.09600803
India = 39.09102565
United States = 38.23088575
Brazil = 21.54913589
United Kingdom = 12.95690631
Japan = 12.26346075
France = 11.29048961
Italy = 10.3024037
Germany = 10.17121225
Spain = 14.74478748

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