GDP Quotes

“It turns out from a number of more recent studies that reported happiness is strongly positively linked with the change or growth in GDP per capita from year to year.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“It is, in the long run, a good thing that machines or robots take over activities they can do, freeing humans for the things only they can do.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“GDP is the way we measure and compare how well or badly countries are doing. But this is not a question of measuring a natural phenomenon like land mass or average temperature to varying degrees of accuracy. GDP is a made-up entity. The concept dates back only to the 1940s.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History

“Hal Varian, the chief economist at Google, reckons that free search via Google is worth $150 billion a year to users; of course he would say that, but his calculations seem reasonable. The economist Michael Mandel has estimated that “data” or information needs to be added as a third category to the traditional distinction between goods and services.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“Generally any task that can be measured by the metrics of productivity—output per hour—is a task we want automation to do. In short, productivity is for robots.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“Grotesquely, there are cheerleaders for the king of Bhutan because of his claim that he seeks to increase gross national happiness, when Bhutan is one of the poorest and one of the more authoritarian countries in the world.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“1970 the typical inhabitant was no better off than his or her counterpart in the year 1000, according to Maddison’s figures.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“Some of the revenues have simply moved elsewhere (to streaming services, say), but there is a lot of free listening. The gap between what a consumer pays and the value he or she receives from the purchase is called “consumer surplus,” and the growing prevalence of zero-priced goods and services online seems to be increasing consumer surplus.14”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“Indeed, the idea of the economy as a machine, regulated by appropriate policy levers, took firm hold.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition

“GDP statistics and Keynesian macroeconomic policy were mutually reinforcing.”
― Diane Coyle, GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History - Revised and expanded Edition