Gunnar Nelson, Chapter 9, Question 4

In the opening pages of chapter 9, Wheelan defines GDP- as gross domestic product- which is the total value of all goods and services produced in the Economy. However as Sophie said in her blog, " GDP only looks at thing from a numerical and financial perspective." Wheelan also advocates that GDP is not taking all aspects of an economy into the picture, such as natural disasters, or environmental degradation. " If an industry pollutes in the process of manufacturing products, and the government pays to clean up the mess, both activities add to GDP." However there are some solutions to the problem regarding GDP. China's state Environmental Protection Administration has begun to calculate GDP through " Green GDP ", which evaluate economic growth by subtracting the costs of environmental damage. The United Nations has also implimented a new calculation, which I find to be further of use and accuracy. The Human Development Index (HDI) uses GDP, life expectancy, literacy, and education to calculate the overall health of a nations economy. Overall I think that the HDI is an accurate display of both present and future economic health.