An interesting, quick analysis of global GDP trends by Mark Perry, a University of Michigan professor, shows that on the big stage, the United States has held its share of economic production remarkably steady for the past 40 years.
Bottom Line: World GDP (real) doubled between 1969 and 1990, and has increased by another 60% since then, so that world output in 2009 is more than three times greater than in 1969. We might mistakenly assume that the significant economic growth over the last 40 years in China, India and Brazil has somehow come “at the expense of economic growth in the U.S.” (based on the “fixed pie fallacy”) but the data suggest otherwise. Because of advances in technology, innovation, and significant improvements in U.S. productivity, America’s share of total world output has remained remarkably constant at a little more than 25%, despite the significant increases in output around the world, especially in Asia.
I’m struck also by the relative leveling out of global resources between the big three economies — Europe, Asia and the U.S. The trends don’t portend well from Latin America and Africa, which have experienced virtually no change in share, despite various economic development initiatives over the past four decades.
