Is St. John’s, the capital city of the Canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the city farthest to the East in Canada — closer to Venice or Vancouver, which is on the West coast of Canada?
a. Yes
b. No
And the answer is …
The answer is yes! Take a look at St. John’s on a map. It’s really out there. It’s a beautiful place from the online pics with seven or so Italian restaurants.
In the 235 years between 1683 and 1918, what county was at war for the most years?
a. Russia
b. Sweden
c. Spain
d. Great Britain
e. France
And the answer is …
According to The World in Maps, the answer is Great Britain, which was, by their count, at war for 121 years. Russia was the runner up at 113. France totaled 111, and Spain 109. Since 1776, the U.S., including the Colonies, has been at war or engaged in military conflict for 231 out of 248 years. Yes, hard to believe. But argue with Google’s AI, which spit back this answer with no way to check its accuracy. Question: Could AI be dumbing us down?
The term "compute" refers to the act of carrying out calculations or commands on a computer. By how much have global computes increased over the past 15 years taking into account algorithmic efficiency improvements.
a. 109,005 times
b. 187 million times
c. 781 billion times
d. 43 trillion times
e. 1 quadtrillion times
And the answer is …
The answer is 1 quadtrillion or 1000 trillion times. I learned this from Anton Korinek, an economist at the University of Virginia, who works on AI’s impact on the economy and society. He appeared on the Markus Academy, a wonderful weekly on economics presented by brilliant Princeton economist, Markus Brunnermeier.
By how much have Hong Kong property values changed since 2022?
a. rose 29%
b. rose 16%
c. rose 3%
d. fell 11%
e. fell 23%
And the answer is …
They fell by 11%. Tensions between the U.S. and China, including its exacerbating trade war — China just banned rare earth mineral exports to the U.S. — may be part of the explanation. Wealthier Hong Kong residents with foreign passports may be heading for the hills.
How many times higher is the homicide rate in the U.S. than in Japan?
a. 300 times
b. 100 times
c. 75 times
d. 30 times
e. 9 times
And the answer is …
The answer provided in a marvelous column by the Financial Times’ Chief Economics Correspondent, Martin Wolf, is 30 times. (Here’s an Economics Matters podcast with Martin from September 2022.)
Apple is currently the largest U.S. company measured by its $3 trillion plus market capitalization. How large is the market cap of Danish company, Novo Nordisk — the largest European company?
a. Almost $2 trillion
b. Over $1.5 trillion
c. Roughly $900 billion
d. Almost $500 billion
e. Less than $300 billion
The answer, again purloined from Martin’s column, is almost $500 billion. The market cap of America’s ten largest companies is almost $18 trillion. The market cap of Europe’s is less than $3 trillion.
How many more commercial flights were there between the U.S. and China pre COVID compared with today?
a. 10 times more
b. 7 times more
c. 4 times more
d. 3 times more
e. 2 times more
And the answer is …
The answer is 4 times more.
Is the State of Wisconsin investing in Bitcoin?
a. Yes
b. No
And the answer is …
The answer is yes. I think the state would do better taking its tax dollars to Vegas, but politicians aren’t satisfied risking their own financial futures, they feel compelled to risk our children’s.
How large is China’s 2024 projected growth rate?
a. 1.7%
b. 3.3%
c. 4.8%
d. 7.1%
e. 9.3%
And the answer is …
The answer is 4.6% according to an estimate by Goldman Sachs and UBS. As the chart below, which only runs through 2023, shows, this will be the lowest rate recorded in two decades. What about GDP per capita? The next chart shows its been zero in the last two years measured in dollars. Since population growth is essentially zero in China these days, the two charts don’t seem to jive. But the second chart is measured in dollars and the yuan has depreciated of late relative to the dollar. So, in yuan terms, living standards are rising rapidly in China. In dollar terms they are not. This said, China imports relatively little from the U.S.
China’s GDP Growth Rate
(Source: Macro Trends Based on World Bank and Other Data)
China’s Per Capita GDP, 1960-2024
(Source: Macro Trends Based on World Bank Data)
Economics Matters is now 2.5 years. This is the 312th post. Free lifetime subscriptions are increasing rapidly. (Anyone who signs up for a free subscription is upgraded, by me, to a lifetime free subscription.) I’m hoping everyone in the country, particularly every high school and college student in the country will sign up. I’m also hoping their parents and grandparents will subscribe on a paid basis.
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Lots of typos in this issue of Economics Matters. Poorly-worded questions, one answer was not among the choices, etc. Not critical, but the nitpickers among us had much to nitpick! :)