LISTEN: Why GDP is a dumb way to measure economic output

A window washer hangs from a rope as he sprays pressuried water on a building in the central business district in Beijing. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

A window washer hangs from a rope as he sprays pressuried water on a building in the central business district in Beijing. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Published Apr 13, 2017

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New York - G, a D and a P. Three letters, lots of

trouble. Gross domestic product is the world's most common way to measure the

value of all goods and services produced in an economy.

But does it really deserve its pedestal?

Lorenzo Fioramonti, a professor at the University of

Pretoria, tells Dan and Scott that the acronym should actually stand for

"Gross dumb product."

He argues that it's responsible for all manner of sins,

ranging from the pillaging of a South Pacific island to an instrument used by

austerity-craven northern Europeans to hammer Greece.

Time for a revolution, Fioramonti insists.

Read also:  Are we heading for a recession?

Just make sure investors don't crucify you.

BLOOMBERG

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