I dont know if anyone has actually proposed this, but what an idea.
Let's abolish GDP.
The problems with GDP abound: hard to measure, conflicting signals, lack of data, etc. But that does not stop politicians from looking at GDP and saying they promise to "do something" about a lagging GDP. Do something is pol-speak for throw more money at it. Virtually all of these schemes to increase GDP are failures. Government cannot really increase GDP in any meaningful way, although it can do a lot to suppress it.
This is why Sir John Cowperthwaite refused to keep accounts like this in Hong Kong: doing so would lead politicians to want to "do something".
?GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History? by Diane Coyle and ?The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World? by Zachary Karabell - The Washington Post
Let's abolish GDP.
The problems with GDP abound: hard to measure, conflicting signals, lack of data, etc. But that does not stop politicians from looking at GDP and saying they promise to "do something" about a lagging GDP. Do something is pol-speak for throw more money at it. Virtually all of these schemes to increase GDP are failures. Government cannot really increase GDP in any meaningful way, although it can do a lot to suppress it.
This is why Sir John Cowperthwaite refused to keep accounts like this in Hong Kong: doing so would lead politicians to want to "do something".
?GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History? by Diane Coyle and ?The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World? by Zachary Karabell - The Washington Post
