Welfare, Autonomy, and Relative GDP

A country’s well-being is influenced by the international conditions it faces, which are partly determined by the interacting interests and relative strengths of that country and others. As corroborated by evidence presented in the paper, relative GDP is a good indicator of a country’s ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power. Hence, a relatively large GDP allows a country to better exercise agency over its affairs, make the international environment more congenial, and deal with external political-economy shocks, thus raising its well-being. A corollary is that relatively slow growth implies declining autonomy and influence on international decisions.