An economist who has studied new ways to improve measures of gross domestic product explains what GDP is and how it could better reflect an economy and the well-being of its inhabitants.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Beyond GDP
Displaying 1 - 20 of 24 articles
GDP is well suited to many things, but not to measuring the impact of disasters.
An obsession with GDP growth fails to account for some of society’s most pressing problems.
There is a plethora of highly troubling issues facing the global economy that are caused, in part, by globalisation.
I wanted to connect the happiness research I’d been doing over the years with what was happening, or indeed not happening, in the world.
Economists, politicians and the media watch GDP closely. But it isn’t the best way to measure the health of the US economy.
The finance industry has developed a powerful set of tools over the years, which could be used to improve well-being and solve our environmental problems.
We need environmentally-adjusted measures that don’t just focus on material goods.
Having a job plays an important role in our overall happiness – yet research also shows most of us are unhappy while we’re at work.
Our feelings of self-worth and contentment are no longer the preserve of writers and artists. Science has made measurement of our well-being a viable alternative to the banalities of economic output.
Moves to measure country progress in other ways to GDP are on the rise. Here’s how happiness researchers are changing the game.
The widely accepted concept of economic prosperity - GDP - increasingly fails to measure human well-being.
While Conservative pundits wonder why high scores for economic competence aren’t boosting poll numbers, some clues might lie away from financial measures.
Traditional economic measures suit the main parties – but not the electorate.
GDP growth only gets us so far in terms of increasing health and well-being, but greener policies can make us better off all round.
If ever we wanted a reminder of how global capitalism has got things wrong, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa serves the purpose well. Our assumption that economic growth is essential is not only a feature…
The idea that data on happiness and well-being can be used to guide government policy has steadily gained popularity over the past decade. But as we seek ways to replace, or at least complement GDP as…
“At present, we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP.” — Paul Hawken Imagine if a corporation used Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounting to do its books: it would be…
Many readers of this piece will be aware that economists are rethinking the role of happiness and GDP. They question facile assumptions about economic growth alone being good for us. What’s the good of…
According to some commentators, something quite strange is happening in the United States in the run-up to the midterm elections. US president Barack Obama’s Democrats are heading for a clunking defeat…
Top contributors
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Professor of Economics, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Economist at Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University
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Professor of Sociology, University of Aberdeen
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Professor in Organisation & Sustainability, University of Exeter
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Professor of Economics and Political Economy, University of Leeds
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University Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics, Cambridge Judge Business School
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Doctoral Researcher in Social Policy, University of Stirling
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Professor of Environment and Society and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Essex
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Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Geography and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College; Director, University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute, University of Cambridge
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Honorary Research Associate at the Behavioural Science Centre, University of Stirling
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Professor Emeritus of Economics, SOAS, University of London
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Associate Professor of Economics, University of Essex
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Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and College Park Professor, University of Maryland
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Associate Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Doctoral researcher, Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, University of Manchester
