Imagine a world where Houston is replaced by Moscow, Dallas is St. Petersburg, and Texas’ neighboring states are Israel, Kazakhstan, Chile, and Angola. That’s part of the fun with this map from the Economist, which matches each of the 50 states with the foreign nation whose economy most closely matches its own (in terms of GDP).
Kansas filling in for New Zealand is a funny thought, yet Bangladesh replacing Mississippi just seems right. If we picture this map as the start of some post-American Century apocalyptic scenario in which the world’s other countries feast upon the remains of the once proud United States – a giant game of Risk – then I like Thailand’s chances, controlling four of our territories right from the outset. Finland’s also well positioned to quickly seize the Midwest.
