http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:2008

Economic Sense

If labor is the source of the wealth of nations (Adam Smith) from this we can extrapolate that there is a positive correlation with population, and GDP.

“The annual labor of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniences of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labor….”

The production of this main factor input will result in more output of all activity including athletic performance. Therefore, we can drawing the logical connection and conclusion on the basis of this labor theory of value; the value of a medal is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that medal.