Ignore GDP, watch the income shock

By Leith van Onselen

While all eyes this week will be on the headline (“real”) GDP number for the March quarter, released as part of the national accounts on Wednesday, most commentators will ignore the much more important data on national income, which will likely register another sizeable fall when measured in per capita terms.

I have explained before why I believe that real GDP is a rubbish measure of economic well-being (here, here and here), and have argued that “economists’, the media’s, and the Government’s infatuation with GDP is one of the biggest shortcomings in macro-economics”.