Originally Posted by
A_Van
1. If it's all about trade turnover with Iran measured in some USD 10 billion, then it does not matter whether the economy of the "other side" is 2 or 20 trillion. It is anyway big enough.
2. Regarding ranking of economies, measuring them in dollars, sterlings, etc. is a wrong approach. PPP matters (purchasing power parity). And in this list
https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?t=100&v=65 China is number 1 and Russia is number 6, way ahead of Italy and Canada.
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An interesting concept PPP which as a dollar - equivalent measure is difficult to value when the currency is continually sliding against the dollar. For inflation I always used the Mars bar equivalence, x number of Mars bars to buy a car etc. .. the trouble is nowadays they alter the size of Mars bars depending on economic conditions to keep the profit margin. Also of use is the ipad equivalence or the big mac equivalence.
The point is that in a wealth of metrics you can choose one to support your case.