Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

GDP is the principal way the world defines & measures progress.

This urgently has to change if the world is to make meaningful progress on the multiple threats posed by climate change, energy costs, insecure employment & widening #inequality.

theconversation.com/beyond-gdp-cha…

In measuring the monetary value of economic activity, GDP incorporates many of the “bads” that detract from our quality of life: eg war, pollution, crime & natural disasters can all have a positive impact on GDP, yet they cannot be construed as components of economic success.

Significant aspects of our lives are missing from GDP, eg: societal inequality; contributions from unpaid work; the labour of those who care for the young & the elderly at home or in the community; the depletion of natural resources; & the value of data & many digital services.

What lies outside the market, including public services funded out of taxation, remains unmeasured in a metric of monetary exchange. Robert Kennedy was blunt in his March 1968 speech: “[GDP] measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

#EnoughIsEnough

GDP conceals crucial differences between the richest & the poorest in society, it inevitably says little about the prospects for ordinary people.

The desire to know if society is moving in the right direction remains a legitimate & important goal – perhaps more so now than ever.

In our search for a reliable guide towards social wellbeing, governments & all interested parties must abandon what the Nobel Laureate Stiglitz called a “GDP fetish”, & work with civil society, the media & the public to establish a more effective framework for measuring progress.