People are getting excited because China’s economy is expected to soon exceed the United States economy in size.   They seem to think this is bad.  Here’s an example.  This is really a stupid thing to worry about, perhaps even a really stupid thing to worry about.

China has a population of 1.34 billion, almost 20 percent of the World’s population.  The United States population is 0.31 billion, less than five percent of the World’s population.  For the mathematically challenged, China’s population is 4.3 times the United States population.  Why should they have a smaller economy?  Ideally, they would have an economy about 4.3 times the size of the United States economy.

The United States economy was about 14.12 trillion in 2009.  Per-capita gross product was almost $46 thousand.  If China’s economy was the same size, its per-capita gross product would be less than $11 thousand United States dollars.  I don’t see any reason to be anxious about this.  In fact, I’d say it is good news when 20 percent of the World’s population increases their standard of living.