h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Gross Domestic Product - A722611
Author: Claire from London - U182111

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Hello Claire!

Do tell us more about PQLI!

I was wondering how this compares with GNP. It seems to me that GNP used to be a standard way of measuring this stuff, and now GDP has replaced it as the standard.

Also, there's sort of an example of Point 5 in the Repblic of Nauru entry [A634646].

I agree. More on PQLI, please. I've never heard of it and it sounds really interesting.

Other than that, this is a great article. It's a good explanation of the pros and cons of GDP. I like this article a lot.

You might be interested in an economic university project currently being put together by.... by...er... Zarquan the Singing Fish, I think. On the strength of your article I think you could have a great input into the project.

Hi Claire!

Yes, I'm doing a University of Life project (I'm waiting to see if it's been accepted!) on world credit and debt and I'm sure you would make a good contribution.

Gross domestic product and gross national product are not one and the same thing and it would be useful to say what they are (ie that Gross National Product is all that GDP is plus income earned abroad). It would also be useful to include that intangibles such as education and health are not included.

Perhaps it would also be useful to say that the black economy is not included (it's been calculated as 12% of UK GDP by Professor Kent Matthews of Cardiff University). It would also be useful to mention such things as money laundering (which has been estimated as the world's third largest business) of such things as drugs and armaments, etc.

Very well written; your writing is clean, and uncluttered, and very easy to understand. A whole book could be written on alternative measures to GDP. The economist Amartya Sen did a lot of work on this, and I recommend that you check out his work. Take a look at his entry in the google directory:

http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Social_Science/Economics/Economists/Sen,_Amartya/?tc=1

Sen won the Nobel prize in 1998.

I think there should be a stand alone entry on GDP/GNP, and then another entry on alternatives.

I agree that there should be something about GNP. Hopefully, Claire will return to see these comments.

This was a nice entry about the 'dismal science'.

- Jimi X
(who minored in economics in college for some reason he still hasn't grasped)

I believe the article does just fine on its own. If we need another article about the GNP, or about PQLI, some entrepeneuring economist should be able to come up with something, I think.

I see that some of the suggestions have been incorporated.

I would like to see explained the difference between GNP and GDP. I'd still like to see a bit more on PQLI - it doesn't need to be a large section, but I feel the entry is left hanging, as it stands.

Just to let you know that this entry has been scouted - but before I can process it for the Edited Guide, it needs a little more clarification as mentioned in the Conversation above.

Could you let me know when this entry is ready?

Many thanks

Ashley

Another example of GDP being different from living standards would be carers: if I care for my parents when they're old and enfeebled, it doesn't contribute to GDP, but if I pay someone else to care for my parents, it does contribute. The same goes for childcare and mental illness.

It's a nice entry - glad it's been picked
-Lucinda

Actually, being a carer DOES contribute to GDP, or at least it doesn't detract from it. Ironically enough, this indicates a relatively caring society, because having a carer removes the need for society to allocate resources itself, which it would do in the UK.

Last post from Claire was April 4, so we may not get to have this article updated for a while. She must be on vacation, or still in school.

Hope I'm not too late to post a suggestion / observation.

I don't think a whole paragraph is needed to explain "per capita". I think most readers would know what it meant without the lengthy analogy.

Awu

Having thought about it some more, I'm talking rubbish in my most recent comment.

The act of caring for the permanently sick, (however compassionate that may be) is a use of resources for no tangible gain. Therefore it does not contribute to GDP.

That's what I get for posting with a few glasses of plonk inside me. Oops.

I'm freeing this entry up so the scout who initially picked can make another selection.

Hopefully Claire will be back soon to update it as this entry will make a wonderful contribution to the Edited Guide.

Cheers for now.

Ashley

Sadly, isn't this one now flea market eligible? It's been 3.5 months since the author's last posting to h2g2....


mikey

Yep - it would make a great topic for an entry should anyone want to adopt it

See A804962

Ooooh, beautiful! Will you submit it to PR?


Mikey