The NYT reported on the decision of Iceland’s parliament to pay $5 billion to British and Dutch depositors. Since most readers are not familiar with the size of Iceland’s economy, it would have been useful to point out that this is approximately equal to 30 percent of Iceland’s GDP. That would be approximately $4.2 trillion in the United States.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.