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Zack Polanski wants to use wellbeing targets instead of GDP to measure growth. Is he right?
(www.bigissue.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2026
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GDP does not include home labour, mostly carried out by women. If you're a woman who takes even one day off from work for childcare, you are "harming" the countries GDP - you have reduced your wage and are not paying others to do that "job". Ohh wait, why don't you hire cleaners, hire gardeners, hire a handyman, hire a chef, and do your part for the economy - just work that third job and the business news will be happy!
How the fuck did we end up with a system where this supposed measure is the most important thing
The simple answer is because, while it's not perfect, it's still quite useful, and easier to measure than something more subjective like wellbeing.
Consider an analogous satire to yours: "If you're depressed, or demanding better conditions, you are 'harming' the country's wellbeing - you have reduced your wellbeing and are not granting wellbeing to anyone else by doing so. Why don't you lower your expectations and be happy with what you've got, why don't you avoid seeking treatment for depression so it's not recorded on the statistics!"
All such metrics which aim to comprehensively summarise the state of something complex like an economy or population are subject to things they can't capture, and subject to perverse incentives.
I think a good, honest attempt to make wellbeing a metric by which we judge the country is a fantastic idea, but a simplistic take on GDP - like yours, I'm afraid - is not why.
But it's so much easier to believe that GDP measures how evil the economy is and that politicians only care about the big evil yardstick due to their being evil.
Fact!
well, here's a chance to change that with a vote