File talk:US GDP per capita.PNG

@Frichmon: Thanks for this. What's your source? Also, I assume your numbers are real, i.e., adjusted for inflation, though I don't see that in your documentation.

Real US GDP per capita, 1790 to 2015, with the presidencies of Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt marked. The dotted red line indicates the entry of the US into World War II.

What do you think about the accompanying plot, which I produced?

This came from www.measuringworth.com? They have US GDP data, nominal, real, and per capita, dating back to 1790. Those numbers have been vetted through an advisory board of economists at leading universities, including Harvard and Stanford. They look like pretty solid numbers to me. I just plotted the measuringworth numbers and noted the following:

1. I need a log scale or I can't see anything.
2. The pattern is much clearer if I plot the per capita numbers than the total.
3. The pattern is even clearer if I also use real (adjusted for inflation) rather than nominal.
4. Starting the series in 1790 makes it much clearer how exceptional the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt was.

How would you feel if I replaced your plot in the Wikipedia article on w:Economy of the United States with the one with the longer scale? I think I'll do that. DavidMCEddy (talk) 03:16, 28 March 2018 (UTC)