The Stimulus Package Exceeds the GDP of All But 14 Countries
Michael Kraskin
Executive Producer
Posted:
02/12/09
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
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.
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 |