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panny
Interesting chart, but how is consumption measured? Dollars or stuff? Everything costs way more in the US.
delichon
"International dollars" are calculated with a common basket of goods and service, collected by the World Bank.
xqcgrek2
Measured in overpriced US dollars.

No one would willingly live in Mississippi over France or Italy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Lasker

thesmtsolver2
The chart literally says PPP, how is overpriced?

> No one would willingly live in Mississippi over France or Italy.

Have you seen parts of Paris? Not all parts of Mississippi are bad.

jltsiren
This seems to be about actual consumption that has not been adjusted for government subsidies. If country A subsidizes services such as education, childcare, and healthcare more than country B, household spending is going to be lower there. A better comparison would either ignore spending in commonly subsidized categories or include government subsidies in household spending.

A quick reality check: Norway would be one of the wealthiest US states, both by nominal figures and after adjusting for purchasing power. If your comparison says something else, you are probably doing something wrong.

thesmtsolver2
Do you have data that suggests otherwise? Wouldn't government subsidies increase consumption?

So the point is even with govt subsidies and a generous oil industry, Norway ranks below all US states.

jltsiren
Assume that providing a service costs $1000/person/year in countries A and B. In country A, the average individual pays $200/year for the service and their taxes are $800/year higher, which the government uses for subsidizing the service. In country B, the individual pays the entire $1000/year. As a consequence, household spending is $800/year higher in country B.

International comparisons are tricky, because each country does things in its own way. While there are some high-quality data sources for such comparisons, you will almost certainly interpret them wrong, unless you spend a lot of time thinking about their data definitions, methodologies, limitations, and so on.