World Survey Puts County on a Global Scale

Just how much economic output is packed into Ventura County?

More than Luxembourg, a lot more than Iceland and a good bit less than most of the world’s developed countries.

So says a report recently released by the Los Angeles-based Economic Development Corp., which compares the output of products and services from Southern California counties to the rest of the world.

Ventura County, with its large agricultural industry and oil installations, has a gross product of $16.5 billion annually, according to the report. That would merit a ranking of 35th among the world’s developed nations if Ventura County were a separate country, according to Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Economic Development Corp.

Ventura County handily exceeds Luxembourg’s $10.5-billion gross product and Iceland’s $6.7 billion. But both countries have far fewer people than Ventura County--400,000 for Luxembourg and 255,000 for Iceland, contrasted with the more than 700,000 residents of Ventura County. Luxembourg is half the size of Ventura County geographically, while Iceland is 21 times larger.

The county has a long way to go to surpass the country ahead of it. New Zealand--population 3.5 million--has a $42-billion gross product.

“I think Ventura’s gross product and that of the Los Angeles area shows that this area is a pretty formidable economic entity,” Kyser said.

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Local business leaders and economists agree that the study is useful as a yardstick and shows that, despite past pessimism, the county’s economic outlook is positive.

Over the past several years, the county has faced hard times but they haven’t been as hard as people might think, said Gary Heathcoate, chairman of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce.

In fact, he said, even during the recession the county maintained a strong economy in relation to the rest of the world.

Jamshid Damooei, a professor of economics at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, agreed that Ventura County has a very viable economy.

“I think when you compare the productivity of the county in certain industries--like agriculture and manufacturing--to the corresponding areas in a place like Luxembourg or Iceland, you would get a sense of how well the county is doing.”

But, he added, broad comparisons between the county and large countries must take into account that nations have entirely different economic objectives related to such issues as trade and geography.

Kyser said he understood that when undertaking the survey.

“This comparison is useful for some things, and less useful for others,” he said. “In these tough times, this kind of report serves to remind people that there is a lot going on here. Our part of the world has not gone away.”

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Other counties included in the comparison were Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. Alone, Los Angeles would rank 15th on the world stage. The state of California would rank eighth, according to the report.

The combined economic output of Los Angeles and the surrounding counties would equal those of highly industrialized nations like the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia.

The report compares only countries for which United Nations data is available, Kyser said, and does not include the former East Bloc nations.