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The Stimulus Package Exceeds the GDP of All But 14 Countries

3 years ago
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The Gross Domestic Product of a country is the market estimate of the collected value of all goods and services produced by that country in a given year. Not including the EU as a single entity, the United States had the highest in 2007 according the IMF with a GDP of $13,807,550,000,000. By this estimate, the stimulus package, valued at $789,000,000,000 represents 5.7% (thanks washerdreyer... Mrs. Callery would be so disappointed in me) of our total GDP (gulp).

It's really hard to wrap my mind around just what $789 billion is, as I've never had to deal with numbers that large in my life, especially with regards to finances. In fact, I need to keep counting 0s just to make sure I'm representing these numbers correctly. One way I tried to put this into perspective for myself was to take a look at the IMF 2007 report to see how our little 5.7% stimulus matched up against the GDP of other countries. I was hoping to list for you every country it exceeded.

Turns out, it's a lot easier to list the ones that it didn't. I'll list the ones that did below the fold.

Countries With a Higher GDP Than $789 Billion

Australia
Mexico
India
Russia
Brazil
Canada
Spain
Italy
France
United Kingdom
China
Germany
Japan
United States


Please note, South (and North) Korea appear to be missing from the IMF's data. Other lists I have found show South Korea as having a GDP in excess of $789 billion. I will endeavor to find out why this is left off of the list the IMF provides on its website.

UPDATE: I just had an interesting back and forth with Erick Erickson of Red State. He pointed out that if the temporary programs in the bill don't turn out to be temporary, that likely puts the cost at $3 trillion, meaning the only countries with a GDP in excess of the bill are the US, Japan, Germany, and China. Read Erick's assessment of the likelihood of job creation here.

For the 157 countries on the IMF's chart that have a GDP under $789 billion, click below the fold.

Kiribati
São Tomé and Príncipe
Tonga
Dominica
Guinea-Bissau
Solomon Islands
Timor-Leste, Dem. Rep. of
Comoros
Samoa
Vanuatu
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Grenada
Gambia, The
Seychelles
Liberia
Djibouti
St. Lucia
Burundi
Maldives
Guyana
Antigua and Barbuda
Bhutan
Belize
Eritrea
Cape Verde
Lesotho
Sierra Leone
Central African Republic
Suriname
Togo
Mauritania
Swaziland
Fiji
Rwanda
Barbados
Montenegro
Malawi
Tajikistan
Mongolia
Guinea
Niger
Moldova
Benin
Nicaragua
Papua New Guinea
Haiti
Bahamas, The
Burkina Faso
Mauritius
Mali
Chad
Namibia
Malta
Congo, Republic of
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of
Madagascar
Mozambique
Cambodia
Armenia
Afghanistan, Rep. of.
Georgia
Nepal
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Albania
Senegal
Jamaica
Gabon
Uganda
Paraguay
Brunei Darussalam
Honduras
Botswana
Equatorial Guinea
Bolivia
Myanmar
Ghana
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jordan
Tanzania
Bahrain
Ethiopia
Panama
Côte d'Ivoire
Iceland
El Salvador
Cameroon
Trinidad and Tobago
Estonia
Cyprus
Uzbekistan
Uruguay
Lebanon
Turkmenistan
Costa Rica
Kenya
Azerbaijan
Sri Lanka
Guatemala
Tunisia
Lithuania
Syrian Arab Republic
Bulgaria
Serbia
Oman
Dominican Republic
Belarus
Ecuador
Slovenia
Sudan
Luxembourg
Croatia
Angola
Libya
Qatar
Bangladesh
Slovak Republic
Morocco
Kazakhstan
Peru
Egypt
New Zealand
Algeria
Hungary
Ukraine
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
Chile
Israel
Romania
Nigeria
Czech Republic
Malaysia
United Arab Emirates
Colombia
Hong Kong SAR
Portugal
Thailand
Finland
Argentina
Ireland
South Africa
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Denmark
Greece
Austria
Saudi Arabia
Taiwan Province of China
Norway
Poland
Switzerland
Indonesia
Belgium
Sweden
Turkey
Netherlands


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