
A new study rates the Washington area economy as the fifth-highest in the nation. The report from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis rates cities based on "gross metropolitan product": the total output of goods and services within a given area in a given year. DC's GMP in 2008 was nearly 400-billion dollars.
New York City's trillion-dollar GMP tops the list. Los Angeles places second, at 700-billion dollars, followed by Chicago, at 500-billion dollars.
GMP is a small-scale equivalent of gross domestic product, the national measure of economic performance. BEA says GMP can be used to determine economic growth, and to inform business and policy decisions.
Rebecca Sheir reports...

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