• merdaverse@lemmy.zip
      3 months

      Two economists are walking in a forest when they Come across a pile of shit.

      The first economist says to the other “Ill pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit.” The second economist takes the $100 and eats the pile of shit.

      They continue walking until they come across a second pile of shit. The second economist turns to the first and says “l pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit.” The first economist takes the $100 and eats a pile of shit.

      Walking a little more, the first economist looks at the second and says, “You know, I gave you $100 to eat shit, then you gave me back the same $100 to eat shit. can’t help but feel like we both just ate shit for nothing.” “That’s not true”, responded the second economist. “We increased the GDP by $200!”

      • quick_snail@feddit.nl
        3 months

        Another reason why measuring economic success in GDP is stupid.

        It’s better to measure wealth disparity.

        • birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          3 months

          I myself would favour to use:

          • median net discretionary GDP (PPP) per capita
          • generalised entropy index
          • Social Progress Index

          The first one yields that 50% of the population can buy more or less than a certain amount of stuff, after tax and regular expenses (groceries, utility, rent, etc.)

          The second could be used for wealth disparity. Unlike the Gini index, it allows you to view differences by groups.

          The third is very broad and does not use economics, instead focusing on general wellbeing. That is a strength, as it enables comparisons between wealth and wellbeing. Some criticism I have on the index though, is that on regards of inclusivity, it doesn’t include the (very good) Asher Fergusson index for trans rights. LGBTQ+ isn’t just gays and lesbians, it’s all queer people.

          I’d also add in the Copenhagenisation index for bicycling, alongside with indices for pedestrian and public transit-friendliness.

          For countries occupying other areas, count those areas both separately and include them in that country’s statistics. So then Israel’s statistics are actually honest: the inequality is extremely high, life expectancy very low, and so on.

          And the more the state deports/kills/mistreats in those occupied areas (as reported by the victims), the worse in the statistics. The fewer possibility to honestly ask them, the even worse on statistics.

          To top it off, within the safety part of the social progress index, I’d include the detained population as a rate of the total, perceptions of state (and hybrid) violence, as well as extent of surveillance, police and para-military, armedness.

          Oh, and it’d be better to have sources be independent from state and corporatist actors.