A Stroll Down the Dollar Street: Teaching Per-Capita GDP Using Internationally Comparable Photographs

Abstract

We propose an activity that draws on over 44,000 internationally comparable photographs (of households and their living conditions) that help students connect cross-country differences in real per-capita GDP with differences in living conditions. First, students virtually visit approximately twenty households across five countries (four of their choice and the United States) and document their living conditions. Second, students collect real GDP per capita data for these countries, compare it, and link it to the observed differences in living conditions. Ultimately, this process allows the students to understand how differences in real GDP per capita relate to the differences in living conditions and learn some of the advantages and disadvantages of using real per-capita GDP to measure living conditions.