Do citizens even understand GDP?

Every serious politician loves GDP. If you don’t clap like a seal at rising GDP, you won’t get anywhere near senior leadership. Every Prime Minister since Gordon Brown has at some point declared growth to be their most important priority.

So will Keir Starmer. In fact, he’s more blunt about it than most. “We’ve put a lot of work into this and we know: growth is the answer,” he said in a speech recently. “Growth – it’s the only show in town.”

The problems with growth as a measure of progre...