Beyond GDP: Measuring What Counts for Economic and Social Performance
by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand

Book Description
Metrics matter for policy and policy matters for well-being. In this report, the co-chairs of the OECD-hosted High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand, show how over-reliance on GDP as the yardstick of economic performance misled policy makers who did not see the 2008 crisis coming. When the crisis did hit, concentrating on the wrong indicators meant that governments made inadequate policy choices, with severe and long-lasting consequences for many people. While GDP is the most well-known, and most powerful economic indicator, it can’t tell us everything we need to know about the health of countries and societies. In fact, it can’t even tell us everything we need to know about economic performance. We need to develop dashboards of indicators that reveal who is benefitting from growth, whether that growth is environmentally sustainable, how people feel about their lives, what factors contribute to an individual’s or a country’s success. This book looks at progress made over the past 10 years in collecting well-being data, and in using them to inform policies. An accompanying volume, For Good Measure: Advancing Research on Well-being Metrics Beyond GDP, presents the latest findings from leading economists and statisticians on selected issues within the broader agenda on defining and measuring well-being.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Chapter 1. The continued importance of the “Beyond GDP” Agenda
Chapter 2. The measurement of economic downturns
Chapter 3. The need to follow up on the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission
Chapter 4. Country-experiences with using well-being indicators to steer policies
Chapter 5. Twelve recommendations on the way ahead in measuring well-being
Bibliography
Annex A. Taking stock of progress in the “Beyond GDP” measurement agenda since the 2009 Commission report

Length: 144 pages
Publisher: OECD (Nov 27, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-9264309166