Farmers Letters: On the Myth of GDP Correlations - Working Harder or Working Better?

Monday, September 9, 2024

On the Myth of GDP Correlations - Working Harder or Working Better?

Why 1st World Values are Destroying the Planet.

Summary Points:

GDP Growth does not always come with increasing prosperity or health for the general population.

GDP is a measure of economic activity that is used to calculate economic growth. It adds up the "value" of everthing created by everyone who is working in the economy.

Provocative example - Someone invents a cure for Diabetes, GDP would decrease dramatically because there are entire industries dedicated to treating the effects and managing the symptoms of Diabetes, and they would be destroyed/ made obsolete over night.

This video presents 2 critiques of GDP.

1. The "Whose Value" Critique
2. The Diabetes Critique (based on different types of value)
a. Innocent Value
b. Externality Value
c. Destructive Growth Value

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Andrei Tarkovsky

“We can express our feelings regarding the world around us either by poetic or by descriptive means... I prefer to express myself metaphorically. Let me stress: metaphorically, not symbolically. A symbol contains within itself a definite meaning, certain intellectual formula, while metaphor is an image. An image possessing the same distinguishing features as the world it represents. An image — as opposed to a symbol — is indefinite in meaning. One cannot speak of the infinite world by applying tools that are definite and finite. We can analyse the formula that constitutes a symbol, while metaphor is a being-within-itself, it’s a monomial. It falls apart at any attempt of touching it."