If countries were
corporations, GDP would be their
added value, or "profit before expenses" (which is spent by citizens on
stuff, so the profit doesn't make it to the end of
fiscal year balance sheet). GDP/capita therefore represents the average purchasing power of a citizen. This is an important point:
anti-globalization protestors like to say that
General Electric (for example) is more economically powerful than many countries, but they compare GE's
turnover or sales to the equivalent of a country's profit. If you compare
apples with apples, suddenly corporations don't look so
big relative to
Malaysia.
Reference: "Countries Still Rule the World", an article by Martin Wolf in the FT, 5th February, 2002