Source? From cursory Googling, it doesn't even seem to crack the top 10 US states, let alone Western world economies...
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/economy/gro...
https://www.statista.com/statistics/187834/gdp-of-the-us-fed...
https://www.statista.com/statistics/187861/gdp-of-the-us-fed...
What's kind of a joke about that is that between 2020-2021 California added an Idaho.
Also, to undermine my point, Texas seems to have grown at almost exactly the same rate (80% increase in 20 years): https://www.statista.com/statistics/188132/gdp-of-the-us-fed...
Compare this to an excellent first world economy, Germany. I think all Europe and Japan is worse. South Korea is probably much better.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2021...
So I think you could say California only grew at the pace of the fastest states in the US in the last twenty years (all with non-competes, which was my point) but the overall amount of growth was by far the most. The point is having no non-competes didn't seem to destroy it.
And here's the propaganda version -- I think being skeptical of this stuff is a good idea. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/10/24/icymi-california-poised-to...
I was being too flip and you were right to point this out.
Not too long ago there was news that CA is about to pass Germany to become the 4th largest economy in the world. (CA press release here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/10/24/icymi-california-poised-to... original article by Bloomberg)
Just a shot in the dark though.