Joseph Stiglitz - Problems with GDP as an Economic Barometer

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/02/05/Joseph_Stiglitz_Economics_of_Information

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz proposes alternatives to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measurement of national economic success.

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Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz ("Globalization and Its Discontents") talks about his new concept of economics, "The Economics of Information," and his latest book, "Making Globalization Work" - Asia Society

Joseph Stiglitz was chief economist at the World Bank until January 2000. Before that he was the chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001. He is currently a finance and economics professor at Columbia University. He is the author of Globalization and Its Discontents and The Roaring Nineties.

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[psa12]

What Stiglitz means is that although GDP has been rising in the past decades, inequalities and poverty have risen. Wealth has not trickled down enough to society, as hoped. Wealth is now more and more concentrated in the hands of less and less people. Basically it's possible that a country has a high GDP but say 90% of its population are dirt poor. So striving solely for a high GDP is not enough. We need a more sophisticated and more up too date indicator for measuring wealth than GDP.

[rainzoro]

Summary of the clip:

GDP mis-represents

1. Wealth distribution (GDP goes up while 50% population income goes down)

2. Stability (environmental problems may emerge in the future)

3. Actual wealth (difference between GDP & GNP)

[PrincessTS01]

We should change the system world wide.

[KAAAching1]

I'm not a big Stiglitz fan, but I agree 100% with what he's saying

[mastaace604]

hahaha "unitek stake"?

[wabwab2754]

The reason is that China doesn't invest in the Nobel fund.

For instance, Japan invests about 1.5 billion yen in the Nobel fund every year.

[supersatie]

you are not alone.. but he makes sense :P

[xadam2dudex]

$300+ billion goes to profits of the insurance companies or 30%

[ericfeinberg28]

lovin it joe. keep the knowledge coming

[LogicalFlawDetector]

Capitalism FTW! Doin it right is what matters...

[VividlyContemporary]

@ThoseWhoStayUofM I wasn't meaning to suggest anything about being able to measure them with other systems I was just wondering (as you appear to know what you are on about) whether there is a way of incorporating preventative stuff into how you measured it that wasn't mentioned or whether it was deliberately not included because it couldn't be measured. I don't know anything about other ways of measuring healthcare but what you are saying seems reasonable enough.