Measuring what matters

Abstract

The single most often cited metric describing our economy is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), though it is seriously flawed as a measure of economic well-being and an increasingly poor, even perverse, indicator of overall well-being. An international movement is underway to replace GDP as our basic economic indicator. Promising among the alternatives are the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) and Gross National Happiness (GNH), though both have strengths and limitations. A combination of the two that draws on the strengths of each (here called GPI Plus) would be a better approximation of the degree to which an economy achieves the end for which it must be intended, which is the augmentation of the sustainable well-being of human populations.