“How many economists does it take to change a light bulb? None. If the light bulb needed changing the market would have already done it.”-Any website with economic jokes. However, the method that the market is being measured is not the best or the only way to measure progress of a country. Page 200 of Naked Economics quotes, “Any measure of economic progress depends on how you define progress. GDP just adds up the numbers. There is something to be said for that.” I believe that the narrator is giving a caveat that GDP is simply the culmination of numerical values from consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports and despite being useful, should not be the primary measurement for economic progress. He/she also states that any
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For example, as India is in the world’s top 10 economies and has a per capita GDP of $2900, it still faces 100,000 people annually suffering from Leprosy, a disease that could be cured with 3 dollars. The flawed healthcare system of India is not taking into account when measuring GDP, which is sometimes used as a measure for standard of living (196,197). Also, “Of the twenty-five most polluted cities in the world, sixteen are in China (197).” China’s booming economy is exchanged with environmental degradation. Nearly $64 billion of environmental damage was not part of the 10% economic growth recorded (197). Additionally, activities during leisure time, used products, and the underground market are all not part of GDP, showing the flaws of using GDP to measure progress. GDP accounts for the amount of consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports and is often used a measurement of economic progress. This may hold true for some developed countries, the majority of the world is inaccurately represented through GDP. Factors ranging from clear cutting forests to selling organs are not included in the GDP and are therefore overlooked in a list of quantitative data. GDP should only be used as one tool for an economy, not as the central measurement of a country’s
For example, as India is in the world’s top 10 economies and has a per capita GDP of $2900, it still faces 100,000 people annually suffering from Leprosy, a disease that could be cured with 3 dollars. The flawed healthcare system of India is not taking into account when measuring GDP, which is sometimes used as a measure for standard of living (196,197). Also, “Of the twenty-five most polluted cities in the world, sixteen are in China (197).” China’s booming economy is exchanged with environmental degradation. Nearly $64 billion of environmental damage was not part of the 10% economic growth recorded (197). Additionally, activities during leisure time, used products, and the underground market are all not part of GDP, showing the flaws of using GDP to measure progress. GDP accounts for the amount of consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports and is often used a measurement of economic progress. This may hold true for some developed countries, the majority of the world is inaccurately represented through GDP. Factors ranging from clear cutting forests to selling organs are not included in the GDP and are therefore overlooked in a list of quantitative data. GDP should only be used as one tool for an economy, not as the central measurement of a country’s