While the U.S. has been grappling with inflation for more than a year, and fears over China’s dominance, a recession and the $31 trillion national debt are growing, America has an astonishing economic record, The Economist reports.

Four-fifths of Americans polled believe their children will be worse off than their children—the most since 1990, when only two-fifths were that cynical. Nevertheless, America’s economy has surpassed the rest of the world throughout its modern history.

“America remains the world’s richest, most productive and most innovative big economy,” The Economist writes. “By an impressive number of measures, it is leaving its peers in the dust.”

Since 1990, America has accounted for a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). Today, even as China has become a powerhouse, that remains largely unchanged.

Furthermore, the U.S. accounts for 58% of the G-7’s GDP, up from 40% in 1990. Average incomes in the U.S. have grown faster than in Western Europe and Japan. Even in Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, the average income is higher than $50,000.

Today, America has one-third more workers than 33 years ago, whereas Europe’s and Japan’s labor forces have grown just by 10%. American workers hold more graduate and postgraduate degrees than the rest of the world and are significantly more productive.

America is also younger and has a higher fertility rate than other developed nations. In addition, in 2021, immigrants comprised 17% of the U.S. labor force, compared with 3% in aging Japan.

Ripe for Invention

All of the five biggest corporate sources of research and development are American, and all continue to invest heavily in R&D. In the past year, they have spent $200 billion.

American innovators and inventors are responsible for some of the most significant developments of our time, including the laptop, the iPhone and artificial intelligence.

American financial markets also offer ample returns, with the value of the S&P 500 benchmark index rewarding investors four times the value of what they would have earned in any other rich nation.

“For the world as a whole, America’s outperformance says much about how to grow,” the magazine attests. “One lesson is that size matters. America has the benefit of a large consumer market over which to spread the costs of R&D, and a deep capital market from which to raise finance.”

It is easier to start a business or restructure a bankrupt one in America, and the nation’s labor force is more flexible than that of other countries. Already, many of those who were laid off from Alphabet and other technology companies earlier this year have landed jobs in other, related industries or smaller tech firms, or have started their own companies.

Higher Living Standards Ahead

Despite the gloomy outlook for the nation among Republicans and even many Democrats, The Economist says, it is almost certain that living standards will continue to rise in the U.S. for the next generation, even as the Biden administration looks to reshape the economy through decarbonization.

However, there are drawbacks, to be sure. The middle class’s after-tax income has not risen as much as it has throughout the rest of the world, among developed and emerging nations alike.

The number of prime-age American men not working has been rising for years and outpaces Britain, France and Germany.

Life expectancy in America is lower than the rest of the world, primarily due to young people dying from drug overdoses and gun violence.

Furthermore, America’s safety net is less generous as a share of GDP than other nations, though social benefits have grown in recent years.

While China is, without question, a threat, as is climate change, America has a storied history of conquering each new challenge it has faced. It’s important to remember that and to reflect on what has driven its long and prosperous run.