ITS EDUCATION ASIA ARTICLE

It's time for a more sustainable growth metric

By Danny Harrington, MD ITS Education Asia

We are probably all familiar with the term GDP, even if we are not all quite sure what it means or really is. But for many years, despite many a voice (such as Bobby Kennedy’s famous speech) pointing out the failings of using it as a measure of economic success or a legitimate target of economic policy, it has been and continues to be the most commonly used economic indicator. To update Kennedy’s sentiments we can now see how GDP fails to distinguish between “good” or sustainable production and “bad” or unsustainable, linear production. This article in The Conversation takes a look at the issue and suggests alternatives such as gross ecosystem Product. Well worth a read.