http://www.theworld.org/2012/11/how-should-we-judge-our-economy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-should-we-judge-our-economy Global Perspectives for an American Audience Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:49:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.theworld.org/2012/11/how-should-we-judge-our-economy/comment-page-1/#comment-26491 Eric Zencey Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:48:00 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=146273#comment-26491 Tony, you're right that GDP isn't exactly Gross Domestic Transactions.  There's nuance here that doesn't come through a couple of sound bites.  The point is that GDP is deeply, deeply flawed as a measure of the production of wealth, since it ignores wealth production that doesn't come to us through markets (with volunteer work, informal neighborly exchange, domestic production and ecosystem services being considerable cases in point).  It is no more inaccurate to call GDP GDT than it is to mistake GDP as a measure of the production of wealth.  We commit the fallacy of misplaced concreteness when we think that by increasing GDP we increase our stock of wealth (let alone our overall wellbeing).  Commission of that fallacy is destroying our civilization's root in the natural systems that support it, and the result of that will be for us what it has been for other civilizations, ones that are no longer with us because of ecosystem collapse. Tony, you’re right that GDP isn’t exactly Gross Domestic Transactions.  There’s nuance here that doesn’t come through a couple of sound bites.  The point is that GDP is deeply, deeply flawed as a measure of the production of wealth, since it ignores wealth production that doesn’t come to us through markets (with volunteer work, informal neighborly exchange, domestic production and ecosystem services being considerable cases in point).  It is no more inaccurate to call GDP GDT than it is to mistake GDP as a measure of the production of wealth.  We commit the fallacy of misplaced concreteness when we think that by increasing GDP we increase our stock of wealth (let alone our overall wellbeing).  Commission of that fallacy is destroying our civilization’s root in the natural systems that support it, and the result of that will be for us what it has been for other civilizations, ones that are no longer with us because of ecosystem collapse.

]]> http://www.theworld.org/2012/11/how-should-we-judge-our-economy/comment-page-1/#comment-26423 TonyLima Sat, 10 Nov 2012 01:33:00 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=146273#comment-26423 There are so many deep flaws in this piece, I can't possibly cover them all in a single comment.  For starters, Mr. Zencey's definition of GDP is just plain wrong.  Second, he does not even understand what GDP is measuring, much less why it is equal to national income (which I'm pretty sure even he would agree is important).  I've written about this at length in my blog for anyone who would like more information: http://gonzoecon.com/2012/11/national-income-accounting-and-the-most-recent-npr-fail/ There are so many deep flaws in this piece, I can’t possibly cover them all in a single comment.  For starters, Mr. Zencey’s definition of GDP is just plain wrong.  Second, he does not even understand what GDP is measuring, much less why it is equal to national income (which I’m pretty sure even he would agree is important).  I’ve written about this at length in my blog for anyone who would like more information: http://gonzoecon.com/2012/11/national-income-accounting-and-the-most-recent-npr-fail/

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