Info – This Map Compares the Size of State Economies with Entire Countries

This Map Compares the Size of State Economies with Entire Countries

The United States is the world’s largest economy, but sometimes it’s easy to forget just how massive a $19 trillion economy actually is.

The only comparable economy in size would be China, but unfortunately the incredible scope of China’s economic boom is something that is also difficult for foreigners to wrap their heads around. We’ve tried to do this in the past by showing you the massive cities that no one knows about, ambitious megaprojects that are underway in the region, and the country’s staggering demand for commodities.

But still, comparing the U.S. to China can be overwhelming – and that’s why it can be more effective to show the U.S. economy as the sum of its parts.


Today’s infographic comes to us from the Carpe Diem blog done by Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute.

It matches the size of U.S. state economies, based on nominal GDP numbers, with comparable countries around the world. For example, the state of Texas ($1.7 trillion) is roughly the equivalent of Canada ($1.65 trillion), while Maine ($61.4 billion) is closer to Panama ($61.8 billion) in terms of economic output.

Here’s the full table – courtesy of Carpe Diem – on how each state breaks down:

U.S. States compared to countries


By looking at the United States in this unique way, we really get a better sense of the scale of the country’s economy as a whole.

Add together just the states of California, Texas, and New York, and you’ve got an economy the size of the United Kingdom, Canada, and South Korea put together. And with each additional state, you’re adding significant economies like Indonesia, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, or Singapore to that mix.

Impressively, even the more sparsely populated states have country-sized economies. Montana compares to Uzbekistan, North Dakota is similar to Croatia, and so on.

If you’re interested in seeing other ways to visualize America’s economy, see a previous post using some other Carpe Diem maps here.

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Sưu tầm – ITALIAN JOB: How to rob a bank, according to economics

Bank robberies are great case studies for the economics of crime. They’re premeditated affairs in which a perpetrator has evaluated (consciously or not) the rationality of proceeding. The gains are quantifiable. They also come with a built-in dilemma: every minute a robber stays in the bank increases both the haul and the chance of getting caught.

If you are an economist curious about bank robberies, there is no better laboratory than Italy. From 2000-2006, the last period for which comprehensive public data are available, Italy averaged nearly as many bank robberies each year than the rest of Europe combined. The Italian Banking Association also retains detailed records of every heist, including the duration, amount seized, and if and when an arrest was made.

Economists Giovanni Mastrobuoni and David A. Rivers studied nearly 5,000 bank robberies in Italy between 2005 and 2007. The average heist lasted 4 minutes, 16 seconds and yielded €16,000 (about $19,800 at the exchange rate of the time). Though each additional minute in the bank, on average, leads to about €1,400 more in earnings, the majority of robberies last three minutes or less because the risk of getting caught increases with time.

The researchers also examined the economic factors that affect the decision to rob and how that information might be used to deter future crimes.

All bank robberies begin with an implicit question: Is it worth it to me to rob this particular bank, at this particular time? It’s a complicated equation that takes into account the expected haul, the would-be perpetrator’s risk aversion, and the opportunity costs of prison, among other factors. (How complicated? The economists rendered the decision to rob a bank as the formula: V(t)=[1−Pr(Tp <t)]E[U(W +Y(t),δ)]+Pr(Tp <t)(W,d,S,δ). We’ll let them explain it.)

Preventing bank robberies, then, is a matter of adjusting the value of those variables so that the act becomes a lot less rational. The data were limited—the Mastrobuoni and Rivers only had access to data about the crimes, not the individuals who committed them. But by looking at the amounts stolen, the duration of heists, and the frequency of arrests, they were able to discern two general phenotypes of thieves: those who are good at stealing, and those who aren’t.

High-skilled thieves—those who steal a lot quickly, with fewer arrests—have essentially found a lucrative line of work. It may be tough for this group to find an alternative career as profitable as crime. Therefore, the researchers suggest the best deterrent for the elite thief may be a long prison sentence, during which he would not be able to practice his (or her) trade.

Low-skilled robbers, on the other hand, have less to gain from a life of crime. The authors suggest this group is best served by expanding educational and training programs that offer attractive alternatives to theft and increase the opportunity costs of incarceration.

The decision to rob can be a surprisingly rational one. The decision to deter robberies can be too.

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Info – A Fascinating Map of Medieval Trade Routes

Globalization is so well established in today’s world that we don’t think twice about where our bananas or socks come from.

Long before fleets of container ships criss-crossed the world’s oceans, camel caravans and single-sail cogstransported regional goods across the world.


Today’s interactive map, by Martin Jan Månsson, is a comprehensive snapshot of the world’s trade networks through the 11th and 12th centuries, which helped to connect kingdoms and merchants throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe.

A confluence of interesting factors helped bring these markets together to encourage commercial activity:


The First Crusade kicked off in 1096, sparking a trend that would have an undeniable economic and cultural impact on Europe and the Middle East.

European fighters arriving in the Middle East came into contact with civilizations that were, in many ways, more advanced than their own. Merchants in the area had already been been trading with places further east, and demand for “exotic” goods shot up when crusaders returned to Europe with items both plundered and purchased.

The maritime infrastructure used to deliver all those soldiers laid the groundwork for moving goods between ports along the Mediterranean. Some ports, such as Alexandria, had separate ports for Muslim and Christian ships, which helped create a more stable pipeline of trade.


The dissolution of the Byzantine Empire and the Italian Kingdom left a vacuum that allowed Italian coastal cities to claim prominent roles in regional trade. The port cities of Venice and Genoa were transporting crusading soldiers to the front lines, so becoming hubs of trade in the Mediterranean was a natural evolution. Their geographic locations were also ideal entry points for goods moving along inland European trade routes.

In the 10th century, word of Ghana’s abundant gold supply spread to Middle East and actually triggered a rush by Muslim merchants to build connections in the region. A lucrative gold export industry encouraged the growth of cities to the south of the Sahara Desert, which formed critical links between Africa and the Mediterranean trade network.


While Italian cities were cementing their role in Western trade, the Song Dynasty introduced an innovation that has important implications today: paper currency.

Paper notes, known as flying cash, backed only by the government’s word, helped eliminate the need for heavy coinage and allowed trade to flourish in China. Later on, Marco Polo would famously deliver this idea back to Europe.


“The Silk Road” is a catch-all term for the many overland and maritime routes linking East Asia with Europe and the Middle East. Cities and towns along busy Silk Road routes thrived, and during the 12th century, Merv (in present day Turkmenistan) was actually the largest city in the world until it was decimated in 1221 by the Mongol Empire.

Trade routes like the Silk Road made the movement of physical goods possible, but perhaps more importantly, they facilitated cross-cultural exchange of ideas, religion, technology, and more.

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