Geography @ NumptyNerd
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Gross Domestic Lies

Lies, damn lies and GDP statistics.

​Geographers often use Gross Domestic Product as an indicator of how well a country is doing. GDP, so the argument goes, is a more objective measure of development - especially when compared to 'soft' criteria such as Gross National Happiness.
Now economists have come clean, GDP is "an imperfect measure" - that's according to The Economist.

GDP, says the Economist, can be measured in three different ways: 
  1. by adding up all the money spent each year, 
  2. by adding up all the money earned each year, or 
  3. by adding up all the value added each year. 

Each country does it differently. For example, Britain and The United States use different methods to calculate GDP, but we geographers often make direct comparisons using data from (potentially) incomparable national systems.

If this was not enough, GDP is calculated on the basis of "surveys" and in many cases, economists "estimate" GDP to meet deadlines. Of course, surveys of manufacturers and builders is going to be reliable - no company or politician is going to lie, make mistakes or otherwise distort the true picture of economic activity, are they?

So if GDP is an imperfect measure in Britain and the United States, can we trust GDP data from countries that have significantly higher levels of corruption? 

Maybe Gross National Happiness is not such a bad index after all?
Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

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  • Home Page
  • Globalisation
    • Globalisation: a Geographical Process
    • Globalisation: Diaspora
    • Globalisation: Cultural Diffusion
    • Globalisation: fashion victims
    • Globalisation and Identity
    • Globalisation and Food Cultures
  • People & Planet
    • Agro-industrialisation
    • Air Pollution
    • Biodiversity loss is a SDG
    • China after the one child policy
    • Desertification in China
    • Natural Causes of Climate Change
    • Renewable Energy
    • Slow Food Movement
    • Technology: a Geographical Perspective
    • The Debate about Aid
    • Tourism: the Butler Model
    • Tourism as a Development Strategy
  • Places
    • Africa is not a country
    • Bangladesh: tourism
    • Milan - Italy's Superstar City
    • Nigeria: Africa's biggest economy
    • London: the capital city of the world?
    • Salford: a city regenerated?
  • The Tool Shed
    • Climate Graphs
    • Images and Captions
    • Critical Thinking >
      • Misleading Maps
      • Mapping an alternative World
      • Language and Geography
      • Gross Domestic Lies