Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.
Volume 20
For Publication Date: July 20, 2007
No. 16
California’s Economy Remains Eighth Largest in the World
According to a just-released study,
California’s economy ranks as the eighth largest in the world, holding the same
position it did one year ago. The Center for the Continuing Study of the
California Economy, a Palo Alto-based research firm, evaluated data from the
World Bank and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to reach this conclusion.
California, with a gross domestic product
of $1.73 trillion, has by far the biggest and most diversified economy of the 50
U.S. states, coming in 62% larger than Texas, which is ranked second. Measured
against other countries, California finishes ahead of Canada and just behind
Italy.
World’s Top Ten
Economies in 2006
(Gross Domestic Product [GDP] in Trillions)
|
Rank
|
Country
|
GDP
|
1
|
U.S.
|
$13.2
|
2
|
Japan
|
$4.3
|
3
|
Germany
|
$2.9
|
4
|
China
|
$2.7
|
5
|
United Kingdom
|
$2.3
|
6
|
France
|
$2.2
|
7
|
Italy
|
$1.8
|
8
|
California
|
$1.7
|
9
|
Canada
|
$1.3
|
10
|
Spain
|
$1.2
|
While there has been growing concern
about the strength of the U.S. economy and the rapid pace of economic
development in China, the size of the U.S. economy continues to dominate all
others. It is more than three times the size of Japan’s, which is ranked second.
The California economy is not only the
largest among the states, as measured in terms of GDP, it continues to be among
the fastest growing. It registered the fifth fastest rate of growth between 2000
and 2006 at 2.8% annually. Only Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and Texas outpaced
California. This is particularly noteworthy since it becomes exceedingly
difficult for larger economies to outpace the rate of growth of smaller
economies. As a basis of comparison, the average annual rate of growth for the
U.S. as a whole was 2.5% over the same period.
—Robert Miyashiro