Beyond GDP
Business Innovation Economics
Rising GDP is not itself a measure of progress. It misleads because (a)
GDP considers only prices and (b) GDP includes everything we buy.
But Q, totalled over product life, sums the perceived quality of item use.
And when product Qs corresponding to personal or communal burdens
are subtracted twice from this total, the net number Net Sum:Q will
trend differently than GDP. It can stagnate or fall even as GDP rises,
yet upwardly respond to contextual improvement in quality of life.
Recent attempts to measure progress through Wellbeing or Life
Satisfaction are based on ever more complex assemblies of indicators.
Although this approach has the political advantage of recognizing every
voice, it is hindered by the systemic invariance imposed by Easterlin’s
paradox.
Not only can Net Sum:Q resolve this (as explored HERE), but it can
also steer us towards improved quality in life better than any other
other economic measure.
A version of this was presented to the Office for National Statistics in
London in 2012.
