GDP is misleading measure of wealth, says top economist
Monday, January 4, 2010 - 11:28
in Earth & Climate
The most commonly used measure of overall economic output is misleading and inaccurate, according to one of the world's leading economists, who says Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ignores the value of natural ecosystems -- an essential component of wealth. Aquifers, ocean fisheries, tropical forests, estuaries and the atmosphere, should but are not used to estimate nations’ wealth, he argues.