Japan: higher GDP than US, but lower income

[Leros]

I noticed that Japan has a higher per capita GDP than the US, but the US has a much higher per capita income ($40k vs $30k). What does this mean about Japan's economy?

 

[Jassi]

The per capita productivity is higher.

 

[LeiZaK]

that japan is more productive and americans are overpaid

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: LeiZaK
that japan is more productive and americans are overpaid

^

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

the people in the US get more of the gdp paid out to them. use your macroecon

GDP = C+I+G+NX the extra gdp in japan is going into higher per capita investment, government spending, and net exports (assuming that consumtion is roughly equal to personal income, which is wrong for the US, where people are getting worse into debt)

all in all this means that in the long run, japan is doning better than the US cause they are getting richer and investing in the country. the US is headed down the tubes

 

[shud]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer
the people in the US get more of the gdp paid out to them. use your macroecon

GDP = C+I+G+NX the extra gdp in japan is going into higher per capita investment, government spending, and net exports (assuming that consumtion is roughly equal to personal income, which is wrong for the US, where people are getting worse into debt)

all in all this means that in the long run, japan is doning better than the US cause they are getting richer and investing in the country. the US is headed down the tubes

Not really. We have a current account deficit which means we import more than we export. What do foreign countries do with the US dollars they get for their goods? Invest in the US. Japan has a crapload of money invested in the US. They don't invest much in their own country at all. Their mortality rate is higher than their birth rate. Japan isn't in great shape.

It's just something that politicians like to put a spin on to make things look good or bad depending on what they want to achieve.

 

[vi edit]

Japan also spends about half (or around 5.5% in terms of GDP) on Healthcare than the US does.

Japan is around 7.5% of GDP, US spends around 13% of GDP on healthcare.

5.5% is huge when considering an entire countries GDP.

 

[shud]

There's a lot that goes into those numbers. You can't read reports with political spins to them. It's hard to find pure numbers reported, and if you do, a lot of the time they don't seem to make sense. I'm an economics major and we talk about this stuff all the time. People get their world economic info from partisan magazines and journals and assume it's the whole truth. On top of that, there's a lot of info out there that is flat out wrong (the whole S.S. trust "fund" thing).

 

[AndrewR]

Japan is doing great? Ha ha ha!!! They have been wrestling with an incredible banking crisis for years now, and more than a few analysts think the entire banking system could crash anytime. Basically, when a company is in debt and can't pay, the banks (for YEARS) would simply loan the company more money, compounding the problem. So, there are billions and billions of bad loans on the books that will never, ever be paid. They've made significant progress but aren't out of the woods yet.

Incidentally, foreign investment is starting to move into Japan, particularly US investment. They've only recently opened up their country to outside investment of any significance, bowing to pressure from the US and others to open their market.

 

[Krk3561]

Your flat out wrong. Luxemborg is the only nation with a higher GDP per capita than the USA.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

Your title is misleading too:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html