Giving Context to Abstract Measurements
It's difficult to comprehend the differences among nations' standards of living. We can read that China's per-capita GDP is around $5,000 per year, but there's rarely any context given to important figures measuring human development and prosperity.
One unfortunate consequence of this lack of context is that we as voters make decisions about issues like free trade and international migration without adequately comprehending the universe in which those decisions are made.
The following attempts to represent some of the major indicators of human economic development in a context that illustrates the United States' comparable development over the last century. Measurements like these are never precise, but taken together, they offer us a reasonable barometer of development.
Measures of Economic Development
Here, we compare a variety of measures of economic development for the world's 20 most populous nations to the same measures in United States history...
(follow the link below for the data)
...
Conclusion
With these measures in mind, we can thoughtfully consider what policies are likely to bring about more efficient growth in the places where it is most needed. Those factors are widely addressed and debated within the economic community, but a few recurrent themes stand out:
* Rule of law
* Access to foreign markets for trade
* Stable monetary policy
* Widespread access to basic infrastructure and essential services, like eduction
Unfortunately, many activist "champions" of the world's poor are stridently, if not violently, opposed to many of the most important tools, especially stable monetary policy and access to trade. A real commitment to the improvement of many of the world's lives would benefit from a serious and fair evaluation of those factors leading to growth, not nonsense rhetoric about "exploitation" and violent protests.
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