In: Economics
how gdp is a dual indicator: useful and not useful; precise and not precise: practical and not practical; worth measuring and not worth it?
Useful because it tells us about the level of output in the economy and its comparison with earlier periods and other countries can tell us whether our country is doing well or not
Not useful because it doesn't tell us about the distribution of income within the economy.
Precise as it is a number that can be used to measure the level of activity. Imprecise since things like technological advancements cannot be measured using this, while their impact on the well-being of people may be much higher than just GDP growth.
Practical as a lot of economic policies are based on GDP, and even a lot of private investment decisions. Not practical since we need to look at other factors as well, e.g., rate of inflation, income equality, etc.
Worth measuring due to all the reasons mentioned above. I won't say that it is not worth measuring because if we don't measure GDP, we need to have some other measure but there's no other measure which can do a better job.