Maybe I should move to Arkansas ?

A couple of years ago a couple of Swedish economists put out a paper comparing the EU to the US. In the area of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, they concluded that if the EU (yes, the whole EU) were a US state, its per capita GDP would make it one of the poorer states. Lest one think that poor places like Spain and Portugal are dragging down the whole lot, I should tell you that Germany on its own just edged out Arkansas, which would suggest it would be somewhere around the 5th poorest US state (ahead, from top to bottom of Arkansas, Montana, West Virginia & Mississippi).

The third quarter 2005 unemployment rate for Arkansas is approximately 5% (source: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank), while the overall rate for the Federal Republic of Germany was 9.2% (source: OECD). Of course many Germans will complain that the former eastern Länder are dragging down the country, but some of the data I've seen lately shows falling unemployment in the east (need to look at more data to speak authoritatively).

I never thought of Arkansas as a hotbed of economic growth, but maybe I should give it another look ;=)