just as a precursor ..., page-2

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    Valuing the USA (or any other country, for that matter) in its currency form will not elicit a shifting valuation (whether up, or down).


    Changes in the USD only have value /purpose in measuring the relative worth of one currency /basket of goods, in different currencies.

    The equivalent market capitalisation for a country is, in my view, its GDP (GNP, etc). This generally is measured in "nominal currency" terms (ie: the currency of one's own country.

    So, the only times when the relative worth of a country will generally fall is when its GDP is negative (ie: in recession).

    Of course, critics would argue that GDP is a flawed measure, as it is better associated with measuring output, production, or expenditure, rather than relative value (ie: intrinsic worth).

    That said, several measures (all based on a varied USD, or GDP, theme) can be used to measure different concepts of valuation.

    They include, PPP (purchasing price parity) which seeks to eliminate the structural impact of FX conversion rates (and the flawed need of having to rely upon a baseline currency, from which to calculate the rate of variation).

    They also include, creating a ratio between GDP, and the overall market capitalisation of all listed companies (ie: comparing GDP to the ASX all ords).

    Beyond this, one can also use the concept of taxation to determine a relative value /worth, based upon the application of average tax rates.

    Some economists, and other researchers (including from the Federal Reserve) have done some of this work. But, the effort involved is in trying to do the Google searches (etc) to track the information down.

    Globally, I suspect that the OECD has also developed some measures of global valuation /relative worth, as has the EIU.

    Dub, as you have suggested, an interesting concept, worthy of further exploration and analysis.