For Good Measure: An Agenda for Moving Beyond GDP

by Joseph E. Stiglitz (Editor), Jean-Paul Fitoussi (Editor), Martine Durand (Editor)

Overview

Today's leading economists weigh in with a new "dashboard" of metrics for measuring our economic and social health

"What we measure affects what we do. If we focus only on material well-being—on, say, the production of goods, rather than on health, education, and the environment—we become distorted in the same way that these measures are distorted."
—Joseph E. Stiglitz

A consensus has emerged among key experts that our conventional economic measures are out of sync with how most people live their lives. GDP, they argue, is a poor and outmoded measure of our well-being.

The global movement to move beyond GDP has attracted some of the world's leading economists, statisticians, and social thinkers who have worked collectively to articulate new approaches to measuring economic well-being and social progress. In the decade since the 2008 economic crisis, these experts have come together to determine what indicators can actually tell us about people's lives.

In the first book of its kind, leading economists from around the world, including Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, Elizabeth Beasely, Jacob Hacker, François Bourguignon, Nora Lustig, Alan B. Krueger, and Joseph E. Stiglitz, describe a range of fascinating metrics—from economic insecurity and environmental sustainability to inequality of opportunity and levels of trust and resilience—that can be used to supplement the simplistic measure of gross domestic product, providing a far more nuanced and accurate account of societal health and well-being.

This groundbreaking volume is sure to provide a major source of ideas and inspiration for one of the most important intellectual movements of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620975718
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	11/19/2019
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	680,144
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, is university professor at Columbia Universityand chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute. He is the author of The Stiglitz Report and a co-author of Mismeasuring Our Lives. He lives in New York City. Jean-Paul Fitoussi is professor emeritus at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (SciencesPo), Paris, and professor at LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome. He is a co-author of Mismeasuring Our Lives and a co-editor of For Good Measure. He lives in Paris. Martine Durand is the chief statistician and director of statistics of the OECD. She is a co-author of Measuring What Counts. She lives in Paris.

Table of Contents

Introduction Joseph E. Stiglitz vii

Editors' Note xiii

Preface xvii

1 Overview Elizabeth Beasley 1

2 Sustainable Development Goals and the Measurement of Economic and Social Progress Ravi Kanbur Ebrahim Patel Joseph E. Stiglitz 24

3 Measuring the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption, and Wealth Nora Lustig 49

4 Horizontal Inequalities Carmen Diana Deere Ravi Kanbur Frances Stewart 100

5 Inequality of Opportunity Francois Bourguignon 123

6 Distributional National Accounts Facundo Alvaredo Lucas Chancel Thomas Piketty Emmanuel Saez Gabriel Zucman 181

7 Understanding Subjective Well-Being Arthur A. Stone Alan B. Krueger 208

8 Economic Security Jacob S. Hacker 264

9 Measuring Sustainability Marleen De Smedt Enrico Giovannini Walter J. Radermacher 316

10 Trust and Social Capital Yann Algan 374

High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress 425