The trouble with GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is increasingly a poor measure of prosperity. It is not even a reliable gauge of production
ONE of Albert Einstein’s greatest insights was that no matter how, where, when or by whom it is measured, the speed of light in a vacuum is constant. Measurements of light’s price, though, are a different matter: they can tell completely different stories depending on when and how they are made.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “The trouble with GDP”
Briefing
April 30th 2016
From the April 30th 2016 edition
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An unrestrained Israel is reshaping the Middle East
Its quest for hegemony will strain domestic cohesion and foreign alliances
Dreams of improving the human race are no longer science fiction
But the “enhancement” industry is still hobbled by out-of-date regulation
If it comes to a stand-off, Europe has leverage over America
But pulling some of those levers would be so damaging as to make them unusable
Syria has got rid of Bashar al-Assad, but not sectarian tensions
Its new rulers seem torn between reassuring minorities and appeasing their jihadist base
Syria’s economy, still strangled by sanctions, is on its knees
It will not improve until they are lifted
The transactional world Donald Trump seeks would harm not help America
Ukraine, Gaza and China will all test his self-interested approach to diplomacy