Economics
Lies, damned lies and statistics
01/03/09 11:38
This is a partial transcript from the ABC program Correspondents Report. The program is broadcast around Australia on Sundays at 08:00 on ABC Radio National.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: For 38 years, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland has been celebrating globalisation and capitalism.
This year though the event took on a more sombre tone. And as business and world leaders debated ways to lift economic growth around the world, a group of prominent economists were arguing that the traditional ways of measuring growth should be tossed aside.
Our Europe correspondent Emma Alberici reports.
EMMA ALBERICI: What the International Monetary Fund sees ahead is the worst global slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It predicts that every advanced economy, including Australia, will go into recession. Some are already there.
Recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product, or is it? A session at this week's Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland challenged the traditional ideas about how a society's progress is measured.
A session at this week's Economic Forum meeting in Davos Switzerland turned the idea of GDP on its head, questioning whether it is the best way to measure a society's progress.
Enrico Giovannini, the chief statistician at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, is currently chairing the global project on measuring the progress of societies.
It's challenging the long accepted notion that GDP is the best barometer of a country's well being. GDP only calculates what a nation produces; goods services and exports minus imports.
A growing chorus of economists say that's no longer relevant to the experiences of real people; are they happy? Do they have jobs?
read more at the ABC
ELIZABETH JACKSON: For 38 years, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland has been celebrating globalisation and capitalism.
This year though the event took on a more sombre tone. And as business and world leaders debated ways to lift economic growth around the world, a group of prominent economists were arguing that the traditional ways of measuring growth should be tossed aside.
Our Europe correspondent Emma Alberici reports.
EMMA ALBERICI: What the International Monetary Fund sees ahead is the worst global slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It predicts that every advanced economy, including Australia, will go into recession. Some are already there.
Recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product, or is it? A session at this week's Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland challenged the traditional ideas about how a society's progress is measured.
A session at this week's Economic Forum meeting in Davos Switzerland turned the idea of GDP on its head, questioning whether it is the best way to measure a society's progress.
Enrico Giovannini, the chief statistician at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, is currently chairing the global project on measuring the progress of societies.
It's challenging the long accepted notion that GDP is the best barometer of a country's well being. GDP only calculates what a nation produces; goods services and exports minus imports.
A growing chorus of economists say that's no longer relevant to the experiences of real people; are they happy? Do they have jobs?
read more at the ABC
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