Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
I don't care too much about corporate investment (at least not in isolation) unless it has a tangible impact on people's standard of living.
Even GDP per capita isn't always a good metric but nonetheless when I look at Australia's it's a good 10 000 USD above Canada's. Generally 64 000 whereas we are at 54 000.
Their jobless rate is about 1.5% lower than ours but their poverty rate is slightly higher than ours.
Housing prices in Sydney are at Toronto and Vancouver levels of insanity but after that it drops off and even Melbourne is in the range of Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary.
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Using nominal GDP and per capital income does not consider cost of living. Using purchasing power parity (PPP) is more reflective of living standards.
New numbers have just been released. Australia's GDP (PPP) in Intl. Dollars (USD) is $1.780 trillion compared with Canada's $2.472 trillion.
The population of Australia is 26.6 million compared with 40.8 million for Canada.
This gives a GDP per capita (PPP) of $66,900 for Australia and $60,600 for Canada, a difference of about 10%. This would imply that living standards are relatively similar in both countries but what exemplifies Canada's
relative economic decline is that in 1970 Canada had more than twice the economic output of Australia and a per capita product about 25% higher. The only advanced economy against which Canada has
relatively improved is Argentina, which is the only country to have achieved developed
status and slipped back to developing.
Generally, prices co-relate to wages, except where there is an abnormality in the local economy, such as in a location with an economy dominated by tourism. Australia has a slightly higher cost of living than Canada but wages are correspondingly higher. Items that tend to be more expensive are clothing, beer, tobacco, transport and energy, items less costly are wine, internet service, cel phone service and dairy products. Housing prices are similar to slightly higher in Australia depending on location. Keep in mind that Australia has a more concentrated population, with close to 65% of the population in the five largest cities, the corresponding figure for Canad is about 40%. Australia has 19 urban areas with >100,000 population compared with 42 in Canada.