Note: This is post #73 in a weekly video series on basic economics.

Mexico is wealthier than Central African Republic, and the United States is much wealthier than Mexico. Why is this true? Why do some countries have wealth that is 10 to 100 timesmore than another country? Why can some citizens in one country purchase so many more goods and services than people in a neighboring country?

In this video by Marginal Revolution University,Alex Tabarrok answers those questions and explains why we can learn so much about a country’s wealth and standard of living by looking at real GDP per capita—a country’s gross domestic product, divided by its population.

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Click here to see other videos in the Introduction to Economics series.