Sunday, July 15, 2007

Nostalgic GDP

Wise men say only fools...
but I can't help falling...
Nostalgic GDP

Comparison of GDP of major countries over years:
(please choose a small letter size in the View setting of Internet Explorer)

..............Japan.........USA.......UK..........FRG.....France.....Italy
1820.......218...........124.........348.......164........381..........220
1885.......314..........1,860......1,229......611........869..........475
1936......1,515........7,993......2,713.....1,929....1,762......1,309
1950......1,565......14,576......3,449.....2,140.....2.184......1,614
1975....12,238......34,685......6,578.....8,059....6,904.......5,853
1990....22,915......54,648......9,359....11,819...10,086.....9,195
(Unit: US$ Billion)

Note 1: Canada is omitted in the original source.
2: FRG: the Federal Republic of Germany
3: Value adjusted for the US dollar in 1990.
4: In 1820, GDP of China was No.1, India's No.2, and France's No. 3.

[Source: "Nihon-no -Keizai" by Osamu Ito;
http://www.chuko.co.jp/new/2007/05/101896.html]

1) Why did GDP of the U.S. expand so drastically between 1820 and 1885?

2) Based on data in 1936, what could we say about WWII?

3) Why did GDP of Japan expand so drastically between 1950 and 1975?

4) Is it wise to think that as Japan and Germany became fully democratic countries after WWII, the U.S. can easily make Iraq and other Islamic nations fully democratic countries, since Japan is like Latin America and Germany is like the U.K.? And is geopolitics more effective than historical economic analysis in judging potential and characteristics of nations?

Truly God is great, and God or Allah is the only god for us!!


(Typhoon No. 4 is now moving along the Pacific Ocean coast line of the mainland Japan. All cloudy and sometimes raining even here. Wise men say only fools challenge a typhoon by surfing. Anyway, I'm a busy man nowadays, at least, psychologically.)


"A SINGLE STONE WITH SEVEN FACETS"