This is due to two reasons. First, the US systematically attracted more immigrants than any other developed country:
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Second, its GDP per capita is the highest in the world for big countries. It passed all other empires sometime in the late 1800s:
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Some countries are richer than the US per capita, but these are all either tiny tax havens (Ireland and the city-states of Bermuda, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Bermuda, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, and Singapore) or countries with massive natural endowments (Norway with oil, Iceland with geothermal energy and fish).
In fact, the US has followed an uncanny trend of nearly 2% growth in GDP per capita for over two centuries:
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You can go back to the 1650s and see a similar trend. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, it did slow down a bit, which is understandable given the two wars against the UK.
Why is the US so rich?
Some believe it’s due to factors like democracy, the rule of law, the US dollar, its strong military, entrepreneurial culture…
But what if these factors are threatened, as many believe they are now? Will the US then keep growing? Or…
