From the Telegraph, April 23:
The
rise of the smartphone and apps such as Instagram and Snapchat mean
traditional measures of growth are no longer fit for purpose, according
to Google’s chief economist.
Hal Varian said the global nature of modern supply chains meant statisticians were miscounting growth in GDP and productivity.
“I think GDP is larger
and productivity is larger than indicated [by the data],” he said. “It
is a serious issue and it’s only going to get worse.”
Mr Varian urged politicians to look at other ways of measuring growth and welfare than the commonly used measure of GDP.
While
he insisted that GDP was not dead, he said websites such as YouTube had
helped consumers to find free solutions to problems previously solved
by mechanics and repair shops.
He said: “GDP has a very hard time with free. If you go back
to 2000, there were 80 billion photos that cost 50 cents a piece to
develop. That’s climbed to 1.6 trillion, but at a cost of essentially
zero. And they don’t show up in GDP. Why? Because they’re basically not
sold. But friends and family still enjoy them, and they’re still a big
deal.
David Canning, a professor at Harvard University, also said it was a mistake to use GDP as a proxy for welfare.
“Money is not the metric of human welfare. I’ve seen a paper
written by economists who argue we should have no children, because if
you have children, the GDP per capita in your household is lower. That
is true, but we like children even though we don’t buy and sell them....MORE
