The economy of the United States is the world's largest national economy and the world's second largest overall economy, the GDP of the EU being approximately $2 trillion larger. Its nominal GDP was estimated to be over $15 trillion in 2011, approximately a quarter of nominal global GDP. Its GDP at purchasing power parity is the largest in the world, approximately a fifth of global GDP at purchasing power parity. The U.S. is one of the world's wealthiest nations, with abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. It has the world's sixth-highest per capita GDP (PPP). The U.S. is the world's third-largest producer of oil and second-largest producer of natural gas. It is the largest trading nation in the world. Its four largest export trading partners are as of 2011: Canada, China, Mexico and Japan.
The economy of the United States is a mixed economy and has maintained a stable overall GDP growth rate, a moderate unemployment rate, and high levels of research and capital investment. It has been the world's largest national economy (not including colonial empires) since at least the 1890s. As of 2012, the country remains the world's largest manufacturer, representing a fifth of the global manufacturing output. Of the world's 500 largest companies, 133 are headquartered in the United States. This is twice the total of any other country. The labor market in the United States has attracted immigrants from all over the world and its net migration rate is among the highest in the world. The U.S. is one of the top-performing economies in studies such as the Ease of Doing Business Index, the Global Competitiveness Report, and others. The United States is ranked first globally in the IT industry competitiveness index.
About 60% of the global currency reserves have been invested in the United States dollar, while 24% have been invested in the euro. The country is one of the world's largest and most influential financial markets. The New York Stock Exchange (formally known as NYSE Euronext) is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization. Foreign investments made in the United States total almost $2.4 trillion, which is more than twice that of any other country. American investments in foreign countries total over $3.3 trillion, which is almost twice that of any other country. Total public and private debt was $50.2 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2010, or 3.5 times GDP. In October 2012, the proportion of public debt was about 1.0043 times the GDP. Domestic financial assets totaled $131 trillion and domestic financial liabilities totaled $106 trillion. As of 2010, the European Union as a whole was the largest trading partner of the U.S., whereas Canada, China, and Mexico were the largest individual trading nations.
The US economy is orderly reviewed with comprehensive economic data analysis by the Beige Book of the Federal Reserve System, the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor and economic indicators of the United States Census.
Read more about Economy Of The United States: History, Overview, Employment, Research, Development, and Entrepreneurship, Income and Wealth, Financial Position, Composition, Notable Companies and Markets, Energy, Transportation, and Telecommunications, Finance, International Trade, Currency and Central Bank, Law and Government
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“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“In the United States there’s a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries, in Catholic countries, a successful person is a sinner.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
“The counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant’s economy is a coarse symbol of the soul’s economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“So here they are, the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals riding the outposts of the nation, from Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark. They were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that stretch to the banks of the Potomac ... and that as I sit there I can constantly forget Washington and remember the United States.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)