Gross Domestic Product (GDP) &
Alternative (Better)
Economic And Social Indices For Our Times
Suggested websites are denoted with an asterisk (*).
Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators
(U.S.A.)
"The Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators are a contribution to
the worldwide effort to develop comprehensive statistics of national
well-being that go beyond traditional macroeconomic indicators."
Canadian Index of Wellbeing
(Can.)
"The new Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) seeks to provide Canadians
with a clear, valid, and regular accounting of the things that matter to
them and the genuine progress of Canada."
*Genuine Progress Indicator
(GPI) (U.S.A.)
Redefining Progress has developed the Genuine Progress Indicator, a
holistic GDP alternative.
GPI
Atlantic (Can.)
GPI Atlantic is developing a Canadian index of sustainable
development and well-being.
Human Development
Index (U.N.)
The Human Development Index of the United Nations has become one of the
foremost alternative indicators to the GDP.
*Index
of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW)
(U.K.)
The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare is probably the pioneer of all
alternative indicators to the GDP.
*National Accounts
of Well Being
(U.K.)
"In contrast to the conventional narrow focus on economic indicators,
it [National Accounts of Well-being] calls for governments to directly
and regularly measure people’s subjective well-being: their experiences,
feelings and perceptions of how their lives are going, as a new way of
assessing societal progress."
*State of the USA
(U.S.A.)
"The State of the USA is committed to helping Americans assess
national progress for themselves, freely and easily, with the best
quality measures and data on the issues they say matter the most."
Discussion sites
Beyond GDP (Europe)
"Spurred on by the success of the 2007 conference, the Beyond GDP
partners continue to work on improving our measures of progress, wealth
and well-being. This website reflects this effort and aims to more
widely share information on recent developments and ongoing work on
indicators to assess social, economic, and environmental progress."
An interesting quote: "Gross national [or domestic] product measures neither the
health of our children, the quality of their education, nor the joy of
their play. It measures neither the beauty of our poetry, nor the
strength of our marriages. It is indifferent to the decency of our
factories and the safety of our streets alike. It measures neither our
wisdom nor our learning, neither our wit nor our courage, neither our
compassion nor our devotion to country. It measures everything in short,
except that which makes life worth living, and it can tell us everything
about our country except those things which make us proud to be part of
it." - Robert Kennedy 1968
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