The Center for Global Development has put together an interesting interactive chart rating developed countries on a variety of metrics as to how their conduct affects the developing world. The US rates high on trade, and pretty high on security. Everything else is either in the middle or low.
The metrics that CGD is using seem pretty flawed to me. For instance, I’m not entirely clear how New Zealand has us roundly beat on the “security” metric. Does their navy guarantee the freedom of the seas for the entire world? I don’t think so, and that freedom allows international trade to take place, which has a higher impact on global welfare than any Swedish foreign aid. If the US military closed up shop tomorrow, there would be a much greater net negative impact on global security and global well-being than if you removed the militaries of any other nation listed on the chart.
Note- I’m saying this with the full understanding that our actions in Iraq, and to some degree Af/Pak, have contributed to instability in their regions.
Also, the "technology" metric mostly counts government subsidies for technological development, and thus puts Spain as the number one country for technology that benefits the developing world, and the US is in the middle. I presume that's because Spain, unlike the US, developed the internet, hybrid drought and pest-resistant seeds, and things like Twitter that encouraged the Iranian dissident movement.
