GDP doesn’t measure what we should care about, say critics. Is that true?

Potential output—the maximum amount an economy can produce over the long run—is an important indicator policymakers use to gauge a country’s current economic health and expectations for future growth.

Development workers constantly gnash their teeth over whether their work has any effect. But they’re faced with a fundamental problem: In undeveloped countries, accurate economic data can be ...

Syria’s example illustrates the challenges of gathering good economic data during conflict. Two destroyed tanks in front of a mosque in Azaz, north of Aleppo. Photo taken in August 2012 by Christiaan ...

Here’s a conversation you must listen to. It will prove invaluable in determining what is actually happening to the economy. We’ve long been led to believe that the best measure of an economy’s size ...

Diane Coyle’s new book, GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History, is a timely contribution to discussions of modern economic performance. She argues that Gross Domestic Product increasingly ...

What’s the best way to gauge the health of the economy? Gross domestic product, a measurement that calculates the value of all goods and services produced, has long been a good way to take the ...

Seriously. How are you feeling about your economic situation? Because the unemployment rate is still near generational lows, inflation is down to 3.2%, and gross domestic product, or GDP, grew at a ...

For the best experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Kenya recently rebased its economy by adding certain sectors such as real estate and ICT ...

French president Nicolas Sarkozy drew heat last month when he suggested that countries should factor happiness into their statistics for growth. After all, Sarkozy campaigned on promises of wealth ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. You would think so. News bulletins still solemnly report the latest infinitesimal adjustments to ...

When the U.S. President tells his citizens they’re lucky enough to be living through the “greatest economy in the history of America” everything he needs to make that claim comes from a single, simple ...