Gross Domestic Product: we are treating the planet as a business in liquidation

Hey blog,

I did say I would try and post something at least once in a week… Well that’s not it, is it?

I’ve just finished listening to the Daniel N Robinson’s brilliant lectures on “The Great Ideas of Philosophy” and I needed something entertaining for changers. Hence Bill Bryson. Again. This time, I’m listening to “I’m a Stranger Here Myself“, and it is just as funny and instructive as my previous hearings by the same author.

I stumbled upon a couple of thoughts about the notion of GDP, definitely worth meditating upon:

“We are treating the planet as a business in liquidation”, by the ecological economist Herman Daly.

“By the curious standard of the GDP, the Nation’s economic hero is a terminal cancer patient who is going through a costly divorce”, by 3 anonymous economists. Detailed analysis available here.