Some historians argue that the policies of the New Deal had little impact on the nation as a whole. However, Powell asserts that "the largest share of New Deal spending and loan programs went to the political 'swing' states of the West and East – where incomes were at least 60 percent higher than in south. This suggests that perhaps Roosevelt's New Deal policies were intended only to gain popular support, since the South was poorer, but FDR saw no point in giving the South a lot of money because he had already the support of voters. This also gives the impression that the New Deal failed to develop the nation since the North was more prosperous with higher wages than the South. However, this can be neglected because the GDP in 1933 was 56.4 billion and it increased to 91.9 billion in 1937, followed by 101.4 billion in 1940. The GDP increased by 35.5 billion in space of four years, thus leading to the hypothesis that the New Transaction policies were effective and Roosevelt could have achieved his goal of economic recovery. Therefore, it can be said that overall the New Deal was successful in developing the nation because the majority of the nation, although the South was poorer, the GDP figures suggest that by 1937, Roosevelt had reached his economic recovery objective .