Is GDP reliable as human progress indicator?

The European Commission published today a Communication on how to measure progress in a changing world. It proposes to go beyond the best known measure of economic activity, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to develop more inclusive indicators that provide a more reliable knowledge base for better public debate and policy-making. Stavros Dimas, Commissioner in charge of Environment, explained in a press conference that GDP was not intended to be a measure of wellbeing and does not pick-up on issue that are vitally important to the quality of lifes such as a clean environment, social cohesion or even how happy people are. Distributed by Tubemogul.