With the ABS due to release its June quarter national accounts next week, Brookings has published an article summarising work by Harvard economists, Dynan and Sheiner, largely defending the world’s favoured measure of economic development – gross domestic product or GDP:
…changes in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) do a reasonable job in capturing changes in a nation’s economic well-being with one important exception. They argue that the exclusion of non-market activities that increase economic well-being merits more attention, particularly given the growing importance of such activities.
