Learning from Europe

Here is GDP per capita, adjusted for differences in price levels (PPP), from the IMF, for the United States and the five most populous countries in Western Europe:

United States 47,440
United Kingdom 36,358
Germany 35,539
France 34,205
Italy 30,631
Spain 30,589

Readers of today's column by Paul Krugman might find these figures useful to keep in mind.

Update: See Mark Perry and Tino Sanandaji and Clive Crook.