The Power of a Single Number: A Political History of GDP
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.21 (907 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0231175108 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-01-31 |
| Language | : | German |
DESCRIPTION:
A Great Guide to GDP The author's tone and enjoyable writing style make this an accessible read for those in the know and those who want to know more about GDP. He succeeds in guiding the reader through historical twists and political positioning that have made GDP what it is today and uncovers how GDP came to be the benchmark for growth and why it persists regardless of legitimate criticism.. Seeing the Forest through the tree rings There are a surprisingly large number of books devoted to GDP and its criticism. This book is somewhat novel in the sense that it is not about economics at all; it's about the diffusion of an idea in society.The first chapter introduces a 17th century political analyst named William Petty, who attempted to estimate the components of national income. The goal is to restructure taxation, which was then mostly on fixed assets; Petty believed that the flow of current output was much greater and a better base
Philipp Lepenies is guest professor for social science at the Free University of Berlin. . He is also the author of Art, Politics, and Development: How Linear Perspective Shaped Policies in the Western World (2013). His research focuses on the success of economic ideas and concepts in politics
Leontief Prize winner, 2008.)A great book on understanding why GDP was put at the center of the political and economic framework that has driven the world over the past sixty years and why this choice led to the underestimating of other issues, such as socioeconomic inequalities and environmental degradation. While many economists today are well aware of its limitations, political inertia keeps GDP on its throne. Economists play important roles in his account, but ultimately it was politics and the priorities of wartime that drove the demand for GDP measurement. The Power of a Single Number is beautifully written and easily accessible to anyone who wants to know more about what lies beh
GDP finally achieved its singular status during World War II, assuming the importance it retains today. These ideas were then extended by John Maynard Keynes, and a more focused study of national income was born. Widely used since the mid-twentieth century, GDP (gross domestic product) has become the world's most powerful statistical indicator of national development and progress. American economists furthered this work by emphasizing GDP's ties to social well-being, setting the stage for its ascent. It was not until the early 1900s that an ingenuous lone-wolf economist revived and honed GDP's statistical approach. Locating the origins of GDP measurements in Renaissance England, Lepenies explores the social and political factors that ori