Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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billion, equivalent to 39 per cent of GDP. They said that 87 per cent of the
estimated value of unpaid work consisted of activities such as cooking,
cleaning, gardening and providing care. The remaining 13 per cent was for
other household work and for work the community. They calculated the value
using the median housekeeper’s annual salary at the time of NZ$13,820. 10 But,
of course, this NZ$40 billion didn’t show up in the 2001 GDP figures.
If we hang our washing on the line we do nothing for the economy, but by
placing it in the dryer we are helping. Spending money at a gym and taking a
taxi home are good for the economy, but walking home under our own steam is
useless. Buying vegetables adds to the economy, but growing them doesn’t. If
we raise our own children, fix our own cars, cook our own meals, care for our
elderly, support our friends and family, and make our own music, we do
nothing at all for the GDP. Being pregnant, chasing toddlers and breastfeeding
do not add to the GDP, but looking after other people’s children in a daycare
centre does.
3. The value of the environment is measured at zero. The GDP does not account
for the depletion of non­renewable resources, so economic activities that draw
down on our natural capital are seen as adding to our well­being. Felling a
forest, draining a swamp, diverting a river, relocating a town and depleting an
aquifer all add to the GDP, whereas leaving them untouched doesn’t. Mining
for gold, overfishing, growing genetically modified food, producing cars that
spew out greenhouse gases and spraying crops with chemical pesticides are all
officially good for the economy.
4. It treats education as a cost rather than an investment. Although capital