GDP Is Misleading Measure of Wealth, Says Top Economist

[The Straight Story]

GDP Is Misleading Measure of Wealth, Says Top Economist

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2010) — The most commonly used measure of overall economic output is misleading and inaccurate, according to one of the world's leading economists.

Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, from The University of Manchester, says Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ignores the value of natural ecosystems -- an essential component of wealth.

Aquifers, ocean fisheries, tropical forests, estuaries and the atmosphere, should but are not used to estimate nations' wealth, he wrote in a new paper published this month.

Professor Dasgupta also criticises the Human Development Index (HDI) -- used by the United Nations to say if a country is developed, developing, or underdeveloped for -- the same reason.

To support his argument, Professor Dasgupta produced a series of s from 1970-2000, showing that sustainable economic development for most of the third world -- other than China -- was negative -- despite official s showing GPD and/or HDI as rising.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100104092500.htm

[avaistheone1]

1. Catherine Austin Fitts'

popsicle index should be included in the GDP as well.

[tech9413]

2. She's my hero

Fortunately there are others out there who are trying to redefine economic principles and what the economy should be doing.

[avaistheone1]

3. I admire her too.

Fitts is brilliant yet she hasn't lost her humanity, unlike so many other "smart" folks.

[unblock]

4. gdp is misleading in many respects; this is another good point.

my standard argument against over-reliance on gdp is that it ignores how the "growth" is distributed across industries, regions, or classes of people.

if everyone in the country loses money except bill gates, who makes enough to exceed everyone's losses and also the previous year's entire gdp, then the gdp goes up although no one would say that was an improved economy. well, except perhaps bill....

[mkultra]

5. GDP doesnt measure wealth

it measures productivity.

[Taitertots]

6. GDP is misleading measure of wealth

Anyone who took a high school economics class should be well aware of this.

That it even has to be said demonstrates how little the people understand about economics.