Faithin Omaha eBook Collection

Download or read book Alternative Progress Indicators to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a Means Towards Sustainable Development written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic performance is generally being measured through GDP (Gross Domestic Product),a variable that has also become the de facto universal metric for 'standards of living'. It is universally applied according to common standards, and has some undeniable benefits mainly due to its simplicity. Unfortunately, this indicator grossly counts all transactions with a market price and thus bluntly adds up benefits and costs in its accounting. It thus converts (welfare-reducing) costs to perceived benefits.The indicator also fails to include non-market transactions, such as family work. Sustainable development and sustainable decision-making are difficult to achieve if welfare is being considered from a purely financial point of view. GDP does not adequately take into account human and social welfare. Furthermore, environmental costs such as the depletion of resources and the damage to the environment are also neglected. It is a valuable exercise to assess in how far environmental and social costs and benefits could be incorporated in the measures used to define 'development, wealth and well-being'. Chapter 2 of the study presents the conference and related events on global scale. Chapter 3 gives a brief overview of sustainable development, how to measure it and its relevance within policy-making. Chapter 4 explains the concept of GDP and the main shortcomings and benefits of this indicator. Chapter 5 explores a selected list of alternative 'progress indicators'for which the SWOT-analyses done by the Wuppertal Institute (2007) assess the Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to be taken into account for a strategic management.Chapter 6 summarises the indicators and gives some conclusions and recommendations.