GDP is unscientific and unfair for poorpeople.

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 09:58 AM 8/31/99 -0400, Doug and Chang wrote:
>chang wrote:
>
>>You are right. GDP is not a perfect measure of economic performance. GDP has
>>nothing to do with poor people. GDP is for the rich to hoodwink poor
people's
>>eyes.
>
>Most "poor people" couldn't tell you what GDP is or what it means, 
>unless poor people in China are different from the ones in the U.S. 
>In fact, most affluent and education people in the U.S. couldn't tell 
>you what GDP is or whether a growth rate of 2% a year was fast or 
>slow.
>
>You've made your point; can you develop it a bit beyond the level of 
>the aphorism?
>
>Doug
>

  
I do not understand the point of that debate - GDP is just a summary mesure
of economic activities not human development - just like the pound is the
measure of merchandise's weight - not its quality.  If you want different
measures of human development, check for example _World Development Report_
where they print a handful of human development different indicators in
addition to economic measures, such as % of population living in poverty,
life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, female labor market
participation, income distribution, access to health care, sanitation,
infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, school enrollment, energy
use, or land use.

Another source of human development and gender-related development indices
is the UN site 

http://www.undp.org/hdro/

A more general point - what is it about many lefties that they prefer
sitting on their hands and whining about how things are done, instead of
doing something about it, even as basic as simple bibliography check?

wojtek