How Well Do You Know Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

Understanding Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

• GDP is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country or countries.

• It is used to measure a country's economic health and is often considered to be the world's most powerful statistical indicator of national development and progress.

• GDP (nominal) per capita does not reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries, therefore using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing living standards between nations.

• Total GDP can be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy.

• GDP definitions are maintained by a number of national and international economic organizations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

• GDP can be determined in three ways: the production approach, the income approach, and the speculated expenditure approach.

• The most direct of the three is the production approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total.

• The income approach measures GDP by adding incomes that firms pay households for factors of production they hire - wages for labour, interest for capital, rent for land and profits for entrepreneurship.

• The expenditure approach works on the principle that all of the product must be bought by somebody, therefore the value of the total product must be equal to people's total expenditures in buying things.

• GDP can be contrasted with gross national product (GNP) or, as it is now known, gross national income (GNI). GDP defines its scope according to location, while GNI defines its scope according to ownership.

• The international standard for measuring GDP is contained in the book System of National Accounts (2008), which was prepared by representatives of the International Monetary Fund, European Union, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations and World Bank.

• GDP can be adjusted for changes in the value of money to make it more meaningful for year-to-year comparisons. This adjusted GDP is called the real, or constant, GDP.Limitations of GDP as a Measure of Economic and Social Progress

• GDP is a measure of a country's economic activity, calculated as the total value of goods and services produced within a country's borders over a specific period of time.

• GDP growth rate indicates how much a country's production has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.

• Per-capita GDP accounts for population growth and is often used as an indicator of living standards.

• GDP per capita is measured frequently, widely, and consistently, making it a useful indicator of living standards.

• GDP does not account for several factors that influence the standard of living, such as income distribution, household and unpaid work, human health, and education.

• Critics argue that GDP is a poor measure of social progress because it does not take into account harm to the environment, political liberty, or the distribution of income among the residents of a country.

• GDP per capita does not account for income distribution and tends to overstate the average income per capita.

• Countries that have authoritarian governments, such as China and Russia, may inflate their GDP figures.

• Alternative approaches have emerged to overcome GDP limitations, such as the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) and the Human Development Index (HDI).

• GDP data can be manipulated, and incorrect growth statistics can falsify indicators such as GDP or GDP per capita.

• According to a peer-reviewed study published in October 2022, there are signs of manipulation of economic growth statistics in the majority of countries, mainly in semi-authoritarian/authoritarian states.

• Indicators such as GPI, HDI, and the Better Life Index (BLI) take into account factors that GDP does not, such as environmental sustainability, social and human well-being, and income distribution.