Elucidate the growth record of the United States

Question

Elucidate the growth record of the United States?

Answer 1

The growth record of the United States is impressive.

1. Real GDP has increased more than six fold since 1940, and real per capita GDP has risen almost fourfold.

2. Rate of growth record shows that real GDP has grown 3.1 percent per year since 1950 and real GDP per capita has grown about 2 percent per year.  But the arithmetic needs to be qualified.

a. Growth doesn’t measure quality improvements.

b. Growth doesn’t measure increased leisure time.

c. Growth doesn’t take into account adverse effects on environment or human security.

d. International comparisons are useful in evaluating U.S. performance.  For example, Japan grew more than twice as fast as U.S. until the 1990s when the U.S. far surpassed Japan.