Lane Kenworthy: America is exceptional … and ordinary [feedly]
John Case
http://lanekenworthy.net/2015/06/19/america-is-exceptional-and-ordinary/
America is exceptional … and ordinary
The Good Society
June 2015
American exceptionalism is one of our country’s most cherished notions.1 There is considerable truth in it: we are different in a number of respects from the world’s other rich longstanding democratic nations, a group that includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, (South) Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. At the same time, there are a host of ways in which we’re quite ordinary.2
To some, “exceptional” doesn’t just mean different; it means best. To others it means worst. As we’ll see, America is both.
Here is a brief and partial introduction to the United States in comparative perspective. Though it barely scratches the surface, it will give you a sense of some of the ways in which the US is both different and similar, both wonderful and woeful.
WE’RE THE BIGGEST
We have by far the largest population, as figure 1 shows. Along with Canada and Australia, we also have the largest land mass (not shown here).
Figure 1. Population
“m” = million. Data source: OECD.
Our economy, too, is far and away the biggest, according to the standard measure — gross domestic product (GDP). Figure 2 shows this.
Figure 2. GDP
Gross domestic product. Adjusted for inflation and converted to US dollars using purchasing power parities. “tr” = trillion. Data source: OECD.
Sometimes big is good. Other times it’s not. No one will rejoice at the fact that, as shown in figure 3, the United States has the most obesity of any affluent nation.
Figure 3. Obesity
Adult obesity rate. Obesity is defined as body mass index greater than 30. Solid lines: the obesity data are from actual measurements of people’s height and weight. Dashed lines: the obesity data are from surveys in which people report their height and weight to the interviewer. Data source: OECD.
America also is the biggest contributor to climate change. Given the size of our economy, it’s no surprise that our total output of carbon dioxide emissions is much greater than that of any other rich nation. But as figure 4 shows, our emissions are highest even when calculated on a per capita (per person) basis.
Figure 4. Carbon dioxide emissions per capita
Metric tons per person. Data source: World Bank.
WE’RE NEARLY THE RICHEST
The standard measure of a nation’s affluence is GDP per capita. As figure 5 indicates, the US ranks second, behind only oil-rich Norway.
Figure 5. GDP per capita
Gross domestic product per person. Adjusted for inflation and converted to US dollars using purchasing power parities. Data source: OECD.
OUR POOR AREN’T ESPECIALLY WELL-OFF
America’s affluence doesn’t trickle down to everyone in a straightforward fashion. As figure 6 shows, the income of US households on the lower part of the income ladder is below that of their counterparts in many comparator nations.
Figure 6. Tenth-percentile household income
Posttransfer-posttax household income. The incomes are adjusted for household size and then rescaled to reflect a three-person household, adjusted for inflation, and converted to US dollars using purchasing power parities. “k” = thousand. The lines are loess curves. Data sources: Luxembourg Income Study; OECD.
Income gives us only a partial picture of people’s standard of living. To get a more complete sense, we can ask people about their actual living conditions: Are they regularly unable to pay bills? Do they have holes in their walls or cracks in their windows that they’re unable to fix? Is their neighborhood unsafe? And so on. Figure 7 shows that, according to the best available data, a larger share of Americans suffer material hardship than is the case in most other affluent countries.
Figure 7. Material hardship rate
Average of the deprivation rates (share of households experiencing deprivation) in the following seven areas: inability to adequately heat home, constrained food choices, overcrowding, poor environmental conditions such as noise and pollution, arrears in payment of utility bills, arrears in mortgage or rent payment, difficulty in making ends meet. Data source: OECD, Growing Unequal?, 2008, pp. 186-188, using data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for European countries, the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA) for Australia, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) for the United States.
OUR INCOMES ARE THE MOST UNEQUAL
So we’re a fabulously affluent country in which the poor aren’t particularly well-off. That suggests a high degree of income inequality. America is indeed quite unequal, as figure 8, which shows the share of household income that goes to the top 1%, makes clear.
Figure 8. Top 1%’s share of income
This is a measure of income inequality between the top 1% and the bottom 99%. Pretax income. Excludes capital gains. Data source: World Top Incomes Database.
WE USED TO BE THE MOST-EDUCATED, BUT NO LONGER
A generation ago, the United States had the highest rate of college completion among the world’s rich nations. But since then we’ve stalled, and a number of other countries have caught up and passed us, as figure 9 shows.
Figure 9. College completion
Share of persons age 25 to 34 with a university degree. Figures for 1979, 1989, and 1999 are estimated using the share of those in 2009 with a university degree for the following age groups: 55 to 64 (25 to 34 in 1979), 45 to 54 (25 to 34 in 1989), 35 to 44 (25 to 34 in 1999). Data source: Digest of Education Statistics, 2011, using OECD data.
WE SPEND THE MOST ON HEALTH CARE, BUT WE’RE AMONG THE LEAST HEALTHY
America spends a lot of money on healthcare — far more, as a share of our GDP, than any other rich nation. Figure 10 shows this gap.
Figure 10. Healthcare expenditures
Share of GDP. Includes public and private expenditures. Data source: OECD.
Despite this massive spending, we don’t live very long relative to our counterparts abroad. In fact, life expectancy in the US is lowest among the affluent countries, as figure 11 indicates. Infant mortality data (not shown here) tell a similar story.
Figure 11. Life expectancy
Years at birth. The vertical axis doesn’t begin at zero. Data source: OECD.
WE PRIZE EMPLOYMENT, BUT ONLY A MODEST SHARE OF US ARE EMPLOYED
Employment is front and center in the American ethos. Yet fewer Americans are in paid work than in many other affluent nations, as figure 12 shows.
Figure 12. Employment
Employed persons aged 25-64 as a share of the population aged 25-64. The vertical axis doesn’t begin at zero. Data source: OECD.
OUR LABOR UNIONS ARE AMONG THE WEAKEST
Labor unions play a significant role in determining wage levels and wage growth in many of the world’s rich countries. That used to be true here too, but not any more. As figure 13 shows, barely one in ten American employees now have their wages set via collective bargaining.
Figure 13. Collective bargaining coverage
Share of employees whose wages are determined by collective bargaining. Data source: Jelle Visser, “ICTWSS: Database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention, and Social Pacts,” Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies, version 4, 2013, series adjcov.
WE HAVE A MODERATELY FREE ECONOMY
Liberty is one of our core values. And yet, according to one measure, displayed in figure 14, our economy is fairly ordinary in the degree to which economic actors are free to choose.
Figure 14. Economic freedom
Average score for business freedom, labor freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, and financial freedom. Each item is scored from 0 to 100. The vertical axis doesn’t begin at zero. Data source: Heritage Foundation, heritage.org/index.
WE’RE THE BIRTHPLACE OF MODERN DEMOCRACY, BUT NOT MANY OF US VOTE
Our political system, like that of other affluent democracies, is a representative democracy. Though there is a role for direct democracy, in the form of state and local referendums, most important political decisions are made by elected representatives rather than by the citizenry. As figure 15 indicates, compared to our counterparts in other affluent nations, relatively few Americans participate in electing those representatives.
Figure 15. Voter turnout
Voters as a share of the eligible population. Legislative elections. In the US, turnout is shown only for years in which there is also a presidential election. Data source: Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), series VAP turnout.
OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS ARE UNUSUAL
Beyond the fundamental similarity of representative democracy, the structure of America’s political institutions is relatively unusual.
- The US is one of a small number of rich democracies in which the executive (president) is directly elected. In most other countries the executive (usually the prime minister) is the leader of the largest party in the parliament, and she or he has no formal lawmaking authority.
- We have two legislative bodies (the House of Representatives and Senate) with equal power. Most others have just one house in parliament; and in those that have two bodies, one of the two is largely ceremonial.
- Most other affluent democracies have a proportional representation electoral system: people vote for parties, and the share of seats each party gets in the legislature is proportional to their share of the votes. We have a winner-take-all system: people vote for individual candidates, and in each state or congressional district only the candidate with the most votes gets representation.
- Private donations account for a much larger share of campaign finance in the United States than in other countries.
- We have a more federalized system of government than most other rich nations: state and local governments have considerable decision-making power.
OUR GOVERNMENT TAXES AND SPENDS LESS THAN MOST
There are various ways to measure the size of government, but a common one is according to the share of the economy (the GDP) that passes through the government. As figure 16 shows, by the standards of the world’s rich nations that share is relatively low in the United States.
Figure 16. Government revenues
Share of GDP. The vertical axis doesn’t begin at zero. Data source: OECD.
WE SPEND THE MOST ON THE MILITARY
Though our government’s overall size is comparatively small, there is one government program on which we spend a lot. As figure 17 shows, our military spending is the highest among the affluent countries.
Figure 17. Military expenditures
Share of GDP. Data source: World Bank.
WE’RE THE MOST RELIGIOUS
A larger share of Americans say religion is “very important” in their lives than is the case in any other affluent democracy, as figure 18 shows. The share in the US has been declining since 2000, and if that continues it won’t be too long before we join the club of secularized countries. But for the moment we’re still exceptional in this regard.
Figure 18. Religion is very important in my life
Other response options: rather important, not very important, not important at all, no answer. Data source: World Values Survey, series v9.
WE’RE THE MOST PUNITIVE
When it comes to crime and punishment, our approach over the past generation has had more of an Old-Testament flavor than a New-Testament one. As figure 19 shows, we incarcerate a larger share of our population, by far, than any other affluent nation. Part of this owes to the fact that our murder rate is the highest, but murders account for only a small portion of crimes, and our rates of assault, rape, robbery, and other types of crime aren’t particularly high relative to other countries.
Figure 19. Incarceration
Persons in prison per 100,000 population. Includes pretrial detainees. Data source: International Centre for Prison Studies, via the OECD.
WE’RE MODERATELY WELCOMING
America has long been a land of immigrants, a country that, more than any other, welcomed the world’s tired, its poor, its huddled masses yearning to breathe free, in the words of Emma Lazarus’ homage to the Statue of Liberty. Immigration restrictions imposed in the 1920s dampened the embrace, while a reform in 1965 and a partial amnesty in 1986 reopened the door to a significant degree. Where do we stand today? Figure 20 shows that the US is now quite ordinary in its foreign-born population share.
Figure 20. Immigrants
Foreign-born share of the population. Includes both legal and illegal immigrants. Data source: OECD.
WE’RE MODERATELY TRUSTING
As an open society that prizes individual liberty, America depends, to a certain degree, on our ability to trust one another. Do we? The World Values Survey regularly asks a representative sample of adults whether “most people can be trusted” or “you need to be very careful in dealing with people.” Americans are middle-of-the-pack in trustingness, as figure 21 shows.
Figure 21. Trust
Share of adults who believe most people can be trusted. Question: “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?” Data source: World Values Survey.
WE’RE SOMEWHAT HAPPY
Our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, highlights the pursuit of happiness as an “inalienable right” of Americans. How happy are we? The best comparative measure comes from a question regularly asked by the World Values Survey: “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” Respondents are asked to rate their life satisfaction on a scale of one to ten. Relative to our counterparts in other rich longstanding democratic countries, we Americans are ordinary in our happiness, as figure 22 shows.
Figure 22. Life satisfaction
Scale from 1 (completely dissatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied). Question: “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” The vertical axis doesn’t begin at zero. Data source: World Values Survey, via the World Database of Happiness, series 122F.
- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835; Seymour Martin Lipset, The First New Nation, Basic Books, 1963; Lipset, American Exceptionalism, W.W. Norton, 1996.
- For more, see Peter Baldwin, The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike, Oxford University Press, 2009.
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