Tim —

I have received questions about size of countries before, and I suppose I should have included a mention. I have extensively examined the role of size of population of a country with regard to the various components of my LRP variables. None of them exhibits any significant relationship to population size for the full sample of countries. There is a very slight tendency toward the very bottom of the the distribution for countries under 1 million population to be better governed, more liberal, and democratic. The strongest relationship is for very small countries to have greater personal freedom.

The other issues you raise, like unique US history etc. do not contradict the fact that the US is an underperformer, although they may to some extent hel explain the underperformance. If so, they suggest some possible ways the US could improve its social protection policies.