Question 15.15

1. The accompanying table shows data from the Penn World Table, Version 8.0, for real GDP per capita in 2005 U.S. dollars for Argentina, Ghana, South Korea, and the United States for 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2011.

  1. Complete the table by expressing each year’s real GDP per capita as a percentage of its 1960 and 2011 levels.

  2. How does the growth in living standards from 1960 to 2011 compare across these four nations? What might account for these differences?

Year Argentina Ghana South Korea United States
Real GDP per capita (2005 dollars) Percentage of Real GDP per capita (2005 dollars) Percentage of Real GDP per capita (2005 dollars) Percentage of Real GDP per capita (2005 dollars) Percentage of
1960 real GDP per capita 2011 real GDP per capita 1960 real GDP per capita 2011 real GDP per capita 1960 real GDP per capita 2011 real GDP per capita 1960 real GDP per capita 2011 real GDP per capita
1960 $6,585 ? ? $1,557 ? ? $1,610 ? ? $15,136 ? ?
1970 8,147 ? ? 1,674 ? ? 2,607 ? ? 20,115 ? ?
1980 8,938 ? ? 1,418 ? ? 5,161 ? ? 25,221 ? ?
1990 6,889 ? ? 1,296 ? ? 11,376 ? ? 31,431 ? ?
2000 9,208 ? ? 1,530 ? ? 20,016 ? ? 39,498 ? ?
2011 13,882 ? ? 2,349 ? ? 29,618 ? ? 42,244 ? ?