How DIfficult It Is To Replace GDP by an Appropriate Wealth Creation Measurement

Gross Domestic Product has its limitations and they become increasingly apparent as we enter the Collaborative Age. In particular, it does not measure the value created by all digital services including collaborative creation. This subject seems to have come back to the fore early 2018. A series of Quartz papers on the subject gives some insight: ‘One of the world’s largest banks wants to rip up the economic rulebook and downplay GDP‘, ‘Our obsession with GDP will lead to madness—but there are alternatives‘, ‘An ambitious project to measure the wealth of nations shows how GDP is a deceptive gauge of progress‘, etc.

It has always been clear that GDP is an Industrial Age measurement with strong limitations. Yet it is a convenient summary of economic health. As we move into the Collaborative Age it needs to be replaced, but we are still unsure how or why. “One answer might be GDP-B, which is an ambitious project being developed by economists at MIT (pdf). It’s a broader metric to measure the economy by looking at how our well-being is changing, thanks to digital goods and services.” I recommend that you have a look at this presentation because it has very interesting

Whatever the new measure will be, we need to change and it is good at last that the subject comes up so powerfully in the public debate. Let’s hope it will remain there and we will be able to solve this conundrum.