Comment by ximeng | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ximeng | Hacker News Reader

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To save other people Googling, populations and GDP per capita (2009, USD) of the economies under discussion. All from Google apart from GSP (gross state product) per capita of Massachusetts, which is from Wikipedia.

  Ireland:        4,450,446 (51,049)
  Massachusetts:  6,593,587 (49,875)
  Germany:       81,879,976 (40,873)
  UK:            61,838,154 (35,165)
  Greece:        11,283,293 (29,240)

The figure for GDP per capita in Ireland seems pretty high.

Bailout is EUR 85bn which comes out to about 25,233 USD per capita.

That's because Ireland has low corporation tax (12.5%) so multinational companies export their profits there and artificially inflate the GDP.

Agreed; isn't this why this discussion should use GNP? Or would that miss some other relevant detail?

That may change however:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republ...

"Ireland's low corporate tax level of 12.5% should be doubled to 25% as part of a common rate across Europe, a cross-party group of MEPs have said."

That high GDP # is the real estate bubble about to burst. Unfortunately most of my erstwhile countrymen (including the bankers) thought it meant spending power. I find it painful to read about, honestly.

The GDP per capita is inflated in both the US and Ireland.

In Germany the GDP is similar in the West and lower in the former East, which will need many more years to reach the level of the former West Germany.

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