GDP is unscientific and unfair for poor people.

chang chang at public.shenzhen.cngb.com
Fri Sep 3 09:53:36 PDT 1999


Date: Friday, September 03, 1999 5:41 AM Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>Ju-chang He, I fully agree with your statement - high GDP growth does NOT
>mean high human development growth. But you did not ask me if i think that
>GDP is 'humane' (to which my answer would have been no for the reasons you
>list in your missive) - you asked me if GDP is 'scientific' - to which most
>rational people would answer 'yes.'

Yes, you are right. GDP is scientific. But I am changing my question now. I will ask:

Do you agree that GDP as a measurement of the whole economy condition is unscientific and unfair? It is very clear that economists use GDP to measure the whole economy condition, not just the volume and the production of goods for market and their sale. When there is a large GDP and a high growth rate, they will say that the economy is great and the financial officer will be proud of it although the living standards of poor people is very bad and needs increasing. They don't pay any attention to the living condition of poor people. So there is no need for the government to raise the living standards of poor people. Therefore GDP as a measurement of the whole economy condition is unscientific and unfair for poor people. GDP is for the rich to hoodwink poor people's eyes.


>As I argued in other postings to this thread, science has to be analytical
>rather than politically correct. I argued thatusing diffrent indicators of
>economic growth and human development is mor analytica than using a single
>conflated measure. I have also shown that gdp can be used in a very
>critical way, for example by serving as the base for comparing social
>welfare spending among different countries (i.e. what share of national
>wealth is being spent on human development).
>
>so it is not the indicator itself, but how it used that is fair or unfair
>to poor people.

Yes, you are right again. But all bourgeois economists are crafty and evil. It is because they use only GDP to measure the whole economy condition and make the government pay no attention to the living standards of poor people. But I still can say that GDP as a measurement of the whole economy condition is unscientific, because it does not tell the whole story; and unfair for poor people, because it leaves them out of the prosperity.

Sincerely, Ju-chang He

SHENZHEN, P.R. CHINA Welcome to My Homepage <http://sites.netscape.net/juchang/>



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