Notably countries that are mentioned in this graph. Comparing Wisconsin to these does make much more sense than comparing the entire US.
Firstly, like in the named three countries, milk and cheese production has tradition and still is among the main agricultural product, which can't be said of the entire US.
Secondly, administrative levels are just that- somewhat arbitrary administrative levels. Someone else might be annoyed that you're not comparing the entire EU, or the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, which is famous for its cheese but has <17k inhabitants, or some obscure county of Wisconsin.
Political science notes that the words we use for administrative levels do not have strict definitions. "The State of Israel" is a sovereign nation-state, and nobody will bat an eye at calling Israel a country.
States do have governments with some sovereignity, but what is a state in one nation might be equivalent to an entire nation somewhere else, and equivalent to a county in the third.
In short: It does make sense to compare units with similar aspects. Be it an economic orientation, size, population, economic power, etc.
Administrative levels do not always mean the same thing or are beneficial to compare.
TimePressure t1_jax49sa wrote
Reply to comment by andyrocks in [OC] Argentina & Venezuela Produce More Cheese Than Switzerland by latinometrics
Notably countries that are mentioned in this graph. Comparing Wisconsin to these does make much more sense than comparing the entire US.
Firstly, like in the named three countries, milk and cheese production has tradition and still is among the main agricultural product, which can't be said of the entire US.
Secondly, administrative levels are just that- somewhat arbitrary administrative levels. Someone else might be annoyed that you're not comparing the entire EU, or the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, which is famous for its cheese but has <17k inhabitants, or some obscure county of Wisconsin.
Political science notes that the words we use for administrative levels do not have strict definitions. "The State of Israel" is a sovereign nation-state, and nobody will bat an eye at calling Israel a country.
States do have governments with some sovereignity, but what is a state in one nation might be equivalent to an entire nation somewhere else, and equivalent to a county in the third.
In short: It does make sense to compare units with similar aspects. Be it an economic orientation, size, population, economic power, etc.
Administrative levels do not always mean the same thing or are beneficial to compare.