From Inception to Alternative: A Case of GDP

Abstract

GDP became the yardstick for measuring the size of an economy and its level of development after its invention in the 1930s. It is the result of an intellectual battle that began with the Political Arithmetic in 1665 and continued through the Great Depression and World War II. Economic progress has determined the speed of development, according to Clark, Kuznets, Keynes, and Stone, through production, income, and output. It was the great invention of the time in terms of measuring and governing policies for economic progress. However, it is now being misused and even used to measure things for which it was never intended. Furthermore, this laid the groundwork for its place in the twenty-first century. Academics and practitioners, as well as governments around the world, are now attempting to look beyond GDP and focus on developing alternatives. This academic paper attempts to investigate the invention of GDP and various alternatives developed so far worldwide. The paper contributes to the literature on ‘Beyond GDP.’.