The South African Civil Society Information Service

The Problem With Focusing on GDP as an Economic Barometer

22 Oct 2008

Jospeh Stiglitz argues that there are a large number of ways in which a focus on GDP is not a good measure of economic performance and societal wellbeing. GDP doesn't tell you about what happens to the typical citizen and this is a problem when you have growing inequality in societies where most people, not just the poor, are becoming worse off.

There are many alternative measures that we could be focusing on such as a focus on green GDP that takes into account of environmental degradation and resource depletion. GDP tells you nothing about environmental sustainability.

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You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/72.19.