California kept its bragging rights as the world's fourth-largest economy in the latest update on state-level business output. The Golden State economy was producing goods and services at a nation-leading $4.215 trillion annual pace in the second quarter. That's according to the latest estimates of gross domestic product by the Bureau of Economic Analysis released Friday, Sept. 26. GDP is a broad measure of the production of goods and services, often seen as a yardstick of a region's economic vibrancy.