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- a lot of times people compare the whole USA to a set of small countries that are handpicked for their high performance on certain metrics. The large size of the USA tends to moderate it's performance on most metrics because aggregating over larger populations and larger areas tends to suppress the influence of random factors that work in the favor of handpicked small areas. A way to illustrate why this is wrong is to instead compare the performance of the better functioning US states to small "model" European countries (one handpicked small area vs. another handpicked small area). Suddenly those countries don't look so good.
- the USA is a much less culturally homogenous area than a lot of the "model" European countries that it is typically compared to, and since cultural minorities are more often than not economic underperformers this works in the US' disfavor. Underperforming minorities are well over 20% in the US, whereas in places like Sweden the figure is closer to 9%.
- purchasing power comparisons tend to disfavor Europe. Euros tend to buy fewer consumer products than their exchange rate equivalent number of Dollars. In many cases the malus to purchasing power amounts to 20% (based on 2011 IMF estimates).
- the US is considerably less densely populated than most of Europe, and most of it's land is much more economically useful than that found in many Scandinavian countries. Expressed in terms of GDP per area of land, most of Western Europe way outperforms the USA. Of course this bodes positively for the US' future since there is plenty of land left to fill.
- Europe is generally much more energy efficient. GDP per unit of energy used is a factor of 1.4 as high in most of Western Europe as in the USA. Again this can also be construed as a prospective benefit to the US because there are more efficiency gains left to be made.
- The USA has much more highly educated citizens of ages above 35 than most of Europe. Over time this gap is projected to be reined in, since education rates for younger persons are at similar levels these days.
- Many places in Europe have a lower % of their population in urban areas than the USA, which correlates negatively to GDP. Over time this difference may get smaller, leading to a catching up of European GDP compared to the USA.
- the USA is a much less culturally homogenous area than a lot of the "model" European countries that it is typically compared to, and since cultural minorities are more often than not economic underperformers this works in the US' disfavor. Underperforming minorities are well over 20% in the US, whereas in places like Sweden the figure is closer to 9%.
- purchasing power comparisons tend to disfavor Europe. Euros tend to buy fewer consumer products than their exchange rate equivalent number of Dollars. In many cases the malus to purchasing power amounts to 20% (based on 2011 IMF estimates).
- the US is considerably less densely populated than most of Europe, and most of it's land is much more economically useful than that found in many Scandinavian countries. Expressed in terms of GDP per area of land, most of Western Europe way outperforms the USA. Of course this bodes positively for the US' future since there is plenty of land left to fill.
- Europe is generally much more energy efficient. GDP per unit of energy used is a factor of 1.4 as high in most of Western Europe as in the USA. Again this can also be construed as a prospective benefit to the US because there are more efficiency gains left to be made.
- The USA has much more highly educated citizens of ages above 35 than most of Europe. Over time this gap is projected to be reined in, since education rates for younger persons are at similar levels these days.
- Many places in Europe have a lower % of their population in urban areas than the USA, which correlates negatively to GDP. Over time this difference may get smaller, leading to a catching up of European GDP compared to the USA.
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