A Live Debate

The Economist is conducting a live debate on whether GDP growth is a poor measure of improving living standards; two of their columnists start the debate. On the one side: “GDP is too narrow a measure of the things that truly matter to humans to be viewed as a valuable indicator in developed nations like ours in 2010.” And on the other: “As a measure of standards of living—that is, a measure of the level of comfort provided by privately purchased and publicly provided goods and services—GDP is pretty good.”