GDP is everywhere. Every day they appear in newspapers, TV news or in discussions among people. What does it exactly mean? It "represents the total value of all goods and services produced". However, it does not take into account the distribution of income, the environmental degradation nor does it count any economic activity that is not paid for. Although it's such an imperfect measurement of how well off we perceive ourselves to be, it is still popular and essential in the economic world. It does not show us our happiness, but it shows how well (or bad) a country is doing in general. Take USA and India, for example, the GDP of America per capita is $47 000, India has around $2900. So it really tells us how big a difference it is to live in one country or another. India is indeed poor and 100 000 people are suffering there from a disease that costs $3 to cure. And I can tell that I've seen so much waste of food in the US as never before. I cannot even think about how many poor Indian kids it could feed. Moreover, my host family's dog goes more often to the hairdresser's (or doggy stylist?) than most Slovak women do. That's how big the difference really is.
Other significant economic indicators are: unemployment, poverty, income inequality, size of government, budget deficit/surplus, current deficit/surplus, national savings, demographics and the total national happiness. So if Barrack Obama would wake up from a coma, along with the GDP these would be the first things he would ask for.
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