Fixr observes that wealth varies widely across each of the 50 states. Just how widely is shown in the map below.
States colored in dark green have highest GSP per capita; the lowest are in yellow. The size of each State is proportional to Real Gross Domestic Product for 2014. Real GDP is the US grew by 2.2% in 2014, higher than the 1.9% growth in 2013.
Gross State Product (GSP) per capita
Source: Fixr
re: DC’s per capita GDP, is it really fair to include laws, rules & regulations, shameless self-aggrandizement, showboating, generalized buffoonery, etc. etc. in the economic output of a local economy? If all the hot air was employed to turn windmills you might have a better argument.
Alas, GSP/GDP is a measure of limited utility, as the production to repair a window smashed by someone throwing a brick through it counts equally to the production to create that window in the first place. All that matters to the metric is production, whether it is good or bad production is not a concern.
Production does not paper over all economic ills … Illinois looks like a relative economic powerhouse in this chart, which offers no hint as to its deep fiscal difficulties.
Similarly, how much of the Texas GSP goes to repair injuries and ill health tied directly to its “no rules” regulatory climate? I’m sure that the town of West, Texas that was largely destroyed by their unregulated fertilizer plant explosion, contributed to the GSP in a significant way, but more in the rebuilding than the fertilizer production …
In the case of DC, even if only 30 seconds of legislative activity accidently produced something worthwhile, the entirety of legislative output counts equally to the body of state laws, and courtroom verdicts produced nationwide, on a dollar-cost production basis.
So take that into account the next time GDP is offered up as a measure of economic health. All production is not necessarily desirable, but all production counts toward the GDP.
Just imagine if our political representation, especially in the Senate, mimicked the economic representation.
So we let Iowa and New Hampshire cull our presidential candidates?
Insane.