Is the United Kingdom really poorer than Mississippi? Have the Brits truly sunk to the point where, if they were to join the United States, they would be the 51st state out of 51?

Douglas Carswell, director of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, first made this claim in 2023. A Conservative and then UK Independence Party member of Parliament, Carswell was so horrified by the severity of the lockdown in Britain that, in 2021, he emigrated to Jackson.

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His assertion caused a lot of injured pride in Britain, where commentators were quick to point out that, while the raw data might show that the Magnolia State had a higher GDP per head, these figures didn’t take account of how far your money went. Factor in purchasing power parity, they protested, and Britain regained its lead. “Ah,” Mississippians said, “but that’s only if you use PPP for the U.S. as a whole” — a Mississippi-only PPP figure would push Britain behind again.

As a Brit, I find it more than a little humiliating to be reduced to arguing on a technicality that we might be wealthier than the poorest state in the country. Twenty years ago, living standards in the U.S., Britain, and much of Western Europe were comparable. Since then, the American economy has grown 60% more than those of Britain and the European Union. Why? Two factors above all: low taxes and energy abundance.

You can feel the difference everywhere — not least in Mississippi, where I am writing these words. The state is still 50th out of 50, but it hums and vibrates with enterprise. In 2024, household incomes rose by 6%, the second-highest increase in the country. In the first quarter of this year, when GDP growth fell by 0.5% across the U.S. as a whole, Mississippi was one of only six states to expand its economy.

There is no magic to these numbers. Mississippi, like many neighboring states, has simply pursued uncomplicated pro-growth policies.

It always had relatively liberal employment laws, but in 2021, it dramatically deregulated occupational licensing by recognizing professional qualifications from other states across a swath of industries, thereby incentivizing the local bodies to scrap their own requirements.

In 2022, it introduced a flat tax, and this year, it became the first state to abolish income tax, as opposed to never having had it. Even before this second change comes into effect, you can feel the impact. Some $40 billion has been invested here over the past five years.

At the same time, Mississippi has reformed its schools, putting more money into classrooms and, now, giving parents more control of how to spend it. Because parents invigilate standards more thoroughly than state officials, the result is a more employable workforce.

Perhaps most importantly, Mississippi steered clear of federal inducements to shift to renewable energy. The state uses oil, gas, and nuclear power. The result is cheap and plentiful energy, and the industries that use it are competitive. Mississippi and Alabama now produce twice as many cars between them as the U.K. — the inverse of 15 years ago.

Stereotypes have a way of lingering for decades after they have lost any relevance. Even now, in much of the world, mention of Mississippi conjures pictures of dirt roads stretching through the cotton fields, paddle steamers on the wide river, good ol’ boys fanning themselves with their hats on dusty porches to the chirp of cicadas.

In reality, this is a state where data centers and AI companies are expanding almost as fast as the auto industry, and for the same reason: cheap energy. On Sept. 24, Entergy Mississippi announced a $300 million program to expand the grid.

Energy is not one more commodity among many. It is the fuel of growth. All other prices rise and fall with the energy price. The story of human civilization is the story of cheaper energy. As we moved from muscle power to steam and then to electricity, we stopped being poor.

FOR ALL THE WARM WORDS, THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP IS FADING

In Britain and in Europe, as in some parts of the U.S., there are attempts to rip out an entire infrastructure based on fossil fuels and replace it with something more expensive. As a result, something unprecedented is happening. Energy consumption is falling, and economic growth with it.

In Mississippi, by contrast, exploiting cheap energy has released the energy of the people. Over the years, leftists have applied the word “empowering” to pretty much all the things they like: feminism, coming out as gay, dropping out of school, working for a nonprofit organization, etc. All are described as “empowering”. But you know what’s actually empowering? Power. Cheap electricity. Grant that, and the rest follows.