Gross Domestic Problem (Economic Controversies)

Gross domestic product is one of the best-known and most powerful statistics in the contemporary world. It drives government policy on a variety of vital areas, from health to education. Yet perhaps for the first time since its invention in the 1930s, a wide range of people regard this icon of economic growth as a problem. Gross Domestic Problem unpacks GDP – what it measures, what it doesn’t, and why – and reveals the powerful politics that have allowed it to dominate today’s economies. Lorenzo Fioramonti demonstrates just how little GDP has to do with equity and social and environmental justice, and shows that an alternative is possible.