Living in Canada vs USA?

Canada standard of living VS USA?

• Does Canada only have a high standard of living because the United States are our neighbors?

• Answer:

  I doubt that that has a great effect on your standard of living. Although who your neighbors are might affect your standard of living, it is not a major factor. What I think is that countries are more likely to trade with those countries that are close-by. And if a lot of developed countries are close, then maybe this'll boost your economy. But this boost will definitely not have a highly significant effect on the standard of living, because then Mexico would also have a high standard of living because of the U.S. proximity. Or then Japan wouldn't have been able to achieve its high standard of living until its neighbors started developing. Your argument could've been much more relevant centuries ago, but with globalization the importance of distance (and thus who your neighbors are) is continuously diminishing.