GDP Metric Criticisms

This cluster debates the limitations and flaws of GDP as a measure of economic prosperity, wellbeing, quality of life, and real wage growth, often arguing it fails to capture true societal value.

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5,115
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#8952
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
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2009
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2010
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2015
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2016
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2017
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2018
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Keywords

TFA e.g US investopedia.com www.bea GD www.epi youtube.com gdp.asp UK gdp gdp capita wealth capita metric growth measure inflation rent good measure

Sample Comments

benlivengood Aug 26, 2021 View on HN

GDP isn't the metric of happiness and wellbeing :)

forgetfreeman Mar 17, 2025 View on HN

Not a problem, let's educate you a little. When graphed together GDP growth and real wages in the US show a disparity that clearly indicates that increases in GDP go somewhere other than working Americans. This being the case GDP metrics don't communicate meaningful information about quality of life.https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

vmception Apr 12, 2022 View on HN

Assumes GDP is a good measure without this hypothetical

yellow_lead Feb 24, 2020 View on HN

Apologies, I was thinking froma GDP perspective.

tsupiroti Jan 6, 2025 View on HN

"GDP measures everything except that which is worthwhile"

riku_iki Aug 29, 2025 View on HN

Sure, GDP is not totally accurate (not sure about extremely though), you feel free to bring better metric and we will check it.

rafaelero Jul 18, 2023 View on HN

Nobody said GDP equals quality of life, what are you talking about?

andrepd Jan 23, 2025 View on HN

Goes to show how much GDP is a good measure (or target) to aim for.

azhenley Mar 9, 2020 View on HN

GDP is not a perfect indicator.

ttoinou Mar 4, 2025 View on HN

Your assumptions are wrong. GDP does not mean anything in real life