this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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As in, doing worse economically. In this context, where that's clear, it seems like the wording holds up.
GDP measures actual trade more than the stock market. That being said, yes, it's a litmus test, albeit a decently well supported one. The main places it breaks down, in terms of predicting people's lifestyles, is where there's major banking hubs (Singapore, Seychelles, Ireland for a while).
GDP is absolute values, so there's quite a bit of self reinforcement. Especially in service heavy areas, your massage cost 30$ for half an hour, elsewhere you can get a better one for 10$ an hour.
Although the second economy delivered twice the goods at a higher quality, the economic output was 1/3rd
Yes, it gets called a "litmus test". If it's higher you can be reasonably sure whatever place is richer (although banking hubs break that a bit). It itself doesn't correspond to that more than empirically, though.