who has the largest economy in the world?

Question

i need sources. i looked this up myself and i keep getting different answers. obviously the US is #1 as an individual country, but i wasn't sure if it still was counting the EU as a whole. some sites say yes, others no

none of u guys answered my question correctly. the third guy didn't answer at all

i guess you can't ask a question out of sheer curiosity anymore....and actually expect to get an answer

Answer 1

The EU. It is considered one unit as far as I know. I don't have any sources at the tip of my fingers. Sorry.l

Answer 2

If you want to consider the EU as one unit, then it probably ranks slightly ahead of the U.S. See link. Looks like that's a couple years old. It's close. No doubt the U.S. will handily pass up the EU within a decade and there'll be no doubt. EU won't be able to keep up by adding in more countries. Declining marginal returns.

BTW I don't see any point in counting the EU as one unit, anymore than counting the whole Northern Hemisphere, say, as one unit. If we do that, then the Northern Hemisphere has the largest economy. I'm not sure how that compares to the group of countries whose names start with A-N alphabetically.

In any case the CIA still insists on listing GDP by purchase power parity, which is a total misuse of the concept and leads to useless bogus rankings.

Answer 3

The EU is a consortium. Shortcutting the math by lumping them together is a bold way for economists to be lazy. Simply sharing a common currency doesn't qualify them as a singular unit. If you break the EU down to individual countries, the U.S. holds the edge. Don't hold your breath. The driving force for any economy isn't hollow trade propped up by out of control credit. The way things usually shake out, we are given to believe it is a combination of having the most available or untapped natural resources, the largest available working population, the most equipment in production the longest number of hours per day, and ... demand. You have to have a whole lot of demand for your products. China seems to have everything but the largest amount of equipment and money in the hands of the consumers so they can purchase the items they want and/or need. They are comming up from behind so fast that most of us don't have a clue what's filling up our rear view mirrors. Who has the largest economy? Who cares? What matters is who will have the largest economy in the next 15 to 20 years.

Answer 4

The EU is not considered a single unit. It is like the stocks of a company. Each stock is a part of the company, but it is at the same time individual from the other stocks. Same thing with the European Union. Each country is part of the EU, but is distinct from other countries of the Union.

Answer 5

I would say China....