In: Economics
Discuss the argument that GDP understates national well-being because there is not an allowance for people working fewer hours than they once worked.
GDP is defined as Gross Domestic Product i.e. Sum of all goods
and services produced within the boundaries of a nation in a
financial year. However, GDP has its flaws as it fails to factor-in
the well being of a nation.
1.GDP gets increased when the country faces earthquake and the
rebuilding process is counted in GDP calculation. But a country is
actually better off by not facing any earthquake. The absence of
any devastation in a particular is not factored-in for GDP
calculation, which seems unfair.
2.Secondly, GDP do not consider leisure hours. An employee working
for 12 hours and another working for 8 hours with similar or even
just a slight variation in productivity, the 12 working hours
contribute more to GDP than 8 working hours even if the person
working 8 hours has better work life balance, which means less
stress, less medical bills, a healthy life and better productivity.
However, all these benefits are ignored in GDP calculation.
Hence, GDP does not give the real picture of a nation.