Do Scandanavians Live Better than Americans?

Don Boudreaux has an interesting post that discusses whether Scandanavians, and Europeans in general, actually have a higher standard of living than Americans. In short, the answer is no.

After adjusting the figures for the different purchasing powers of the dollar and euro, the only European country whose economic output per person was greater than the United States average was the tiny tax haven of Luxembourg, which ranked third, just behind Delaware and slightly ahead of Connecticut.

Alternatively, the study found, if the E.U. was treated as a single American state, it would rank fifth from the bottom, topping only Arkansas, Montana, West Virginia and Mississippi.