I’ve always thought Russia had an economy about the same as Australia’s, which makes it very small.
And I’ve always thought GDP was a loony way of measuring the ‘size’ and/or strength of an economy.
But I didn’t know of any alternatives. Because I just don’t know much. So I find today there is a measure called ‘PPP’ or ‘Purchasing Power Parity’ which allows for adjusting calculations in order to reflect which things of a nation’s ‘production’ are really ‘things’ of some use and which are mere frivolities of no essential use – like painting fingernails and tv entertainment.
Now I learn this and how it applies to the current fiasco in the Ukraine.
Read this. It’s very interesting I think:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/is-america-the-real-victim-of-anti-russia-sanctions