Posted 12:30 PM by Floyd

Stephen Green and Glenn Reynolds have been involved in a debate as to whether Sweden is poorer than Mississippi. Stephen looked up "purchasing parity power" in the CIA World Factbook and found that the average Swede ranks higher than a Mississippian, but lower than an Alabaman.

Here's a factoid I saw posted on Usenet by James Donald: Sweden's population has fewer major appliances on average than America's poor people. (I think this originally appeared in the Wall Street
Journal.)

Average Swede	Poorest fifth of Americans	owns
48%	60%	VCR
37%	60%	Microwave
31%	20%	Dishwasher
18%	50%	Dryer

Source US. Bureau of census, 1992, Euromonitor, 1991. (US figures rounded to nearest 10% because of lack of accuracy)

These figures strongly suggest that Sweden is considerably poorer than America. Washing your own dishes and hanging your laundry to dry is a waste of time. I can't think of a reason not to own a dishwasher or dryer other than not being able to afford them.