How should we measure the productivity of a society? There’s lot of ways to make fun of productivity measurement by pointing out the confusion of cause and effect. Milton Friedman said he was visiting China in the early seventies or so and was shown a massive excavation project with thousands of workers digging with shovels. He asked why the managers didn’t use bulldozers instead, and was told that this was a jobs project. “In that case,” he responded, “why don’t you make them use spoons?” That way they could employ ten times as many workers.
Not sure that ANY "measurement" either provides information or serves any societal purpose. GDP is an imperfect financial measurement useful more in noting the up or down trend rather than absolute measurement. It can be argued the "society" is the result of individual interaction taken to simplify or improve life and/or living conditions and therefore by its existence is its own measurement or indicator...not something to be treated as its own existence and therefore to be "adjusted." But, maybe I am wrong!
Ritualized GDP talk always makes me recall the ancient dictum that "the gods must be fed".
Not sure that ANY "measurement" either provides information or serves any societal purpose. GDP is an imperfect financial measurement useful more in noting the up or down trend rather than absolute measurement. It can be argued the "society" is the result of individual interaction taken to simplify or improve life and/or living conditions and therefore by its existence is its own measurement or indicator...not something to be treated as its own existence and therefore to be "adjusted." But, maybe I am wrong!