User blog comment:Ty Rezac/Best states to live/@comment-5789047-20130512172131/@comment-5789047-20130522140522

GDP/Population =Standard of Living. Basic Economics. Though China does have a massive GDP, it also have 1/7 of the world's population. If just the Bay Area alone went independant it would have the world's 20th highest GDP, and California has less than 1% of the world population. So yes, the economy has plenty to do with it.