GDP
Gross domestic product: the total market value of goods and services an economy produces in a period.
What the essays say
The capitalism essay asks what GDP is really telling us, and what happens when a measurement becomes the goal instead of a gauge.
So what is GDP telling us in those situations?
What happens when the measurement slowly becomes the objective?
Where people disagree
- Economists broadly agree GDP is a useful measure of economic activity and closely tied to many things people care about.
- Its own designers warned it was not a measure of well-being, and critics note it counts activity whether or not it makes lives better.
- Alternatives and supplements include measures of health, time use, inequality, and environmental cost alongside output.
