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TOWARDS AN INDICATOR OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC WELFAREA. Troubles in Developing a New Indicator1. Definitional Problems2. Aggregation Problems3. International Accords and Political PressuresB. What Makes a Good Indicator?ADAPTING THE GDP: SOME ONGOING PROJECTSA. SNA Satellite AccountsB. Redefining Progress‟ Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)C. GPI AtlanticCONCLUSIONSOURCES AND FURTHER INFORMATIONA. WebsitesB. Books and ArticlesTHE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT ANDALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INDICATORSINTRODUCTIONAlthough it has only been around for roughly 60 years, it is almost impossibleto think of a time before the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or its cousin, theGross National Product (GNP). Its monthly release by Statistics Canadagarners acres of reporting, commentary and analysis in the media. Itunderpins every business decision and guides general government policy.As a measure of market activity and economic growth, the GDP isunparalleled. The U.S. Department of Commerce, which in 1999 named thecreation of the System of National Accounts (SNA) its greatest achievementof the 20 th century, made the following remarks:
The national accounts have become the mainstay of modernmacroeconomic analysis, allowing policymakers, economists, and thebusiness community to analyze the impact of different tax andspending plans, the impact of oil and other price shocks, and theimpact of monetary policy on the economy as a whole and on specificcomponents of final demand, incomes, industries, and regions.(1)In general, though, the GDP is treated as more than a positive macroeconomicindicator. It is increasingly viewed as a normative indicator ofeconomic and social well-being; Canadians look to the GDP as an indicatoras to how well the country is doing.The GDP‟s usefulness as a normative indicator of general social andeconomic well-being is a long-standing question in economics and policycircles. In a 1974 Statistics Canada paper on the possibilities of modifyingthe GNP, Oli Hawrylyshyn remarks that: “In the past, GNP has served wellits „management accounting purpose,‟ providing information on marketactivity to policy-makers, and the data on economic variables to use in themodels of research analysts. Now it is being asked to tell the public howmuch better or worse off it is, hence the possibly increased deviation of GNPfrom welfare is of some importance.”(2)The desire to measure levels and changes in welfare has not abated. Literallyhundreds of indicator programs exist at the municipal, regional, national andinternational levels, all of which attempt to quantify various definitions ofwell-being. Many of these programs attempt to address concerns that theGDP was never designed to cover, including sustainable development (whichdiscriminates among different types of development) and environmentalpollution and degradation, as well as quality of life. In the 2000 Budget, thefederal government earmarked $9 million to develop environmental andsustainable-development indicators.This publication examines the pros and cons of using GDP as a normativeindicator of economic and social development. The first part of this paperdefines the GDP, noting both its strengths and shortcomings. The seconddiscusses the positive and negative aspects of alternative economic and socialindicators, while the third discusses three programs in particular.WHAT IS THE GDP?A. BackgroundWhile the GDP and the rest of the national income accounts may seemto be arcane concepts, they are truly among the great inventions of thetwentieth century.
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