If more research praises practice challenges about economic statistics, we are not certain that we know solid things about today’s economy. – Diane Coyle, Scale of Progress: Counting the Really Important Things (Page 29)
It’s great to have defined measures of economic progress. I wanted to know if progress was faster than one country than another. We wanted to know if progress in one period is faster than in another. I would like to know how different policies and institutional arrangements affect progress.
Diane Coyle has spent decades researching on issues measuring progress. Her experiences and her thought processes create a measure of her work, progress: counting what really matters and a valuable treatment.
The most commonly used indicator is gross domestic product, reported on a total or per capita basis. However, GDP data is often cited in the press or used by economists without taking into account the problems in constructing estimates.
First, it is considered a simple economy that produces wheat and cars. You can measure the bushels of harvested wheat and the number of cars manufactured. I wanted to compare last year’s total production volume with priority years. Based on the market prices of two products, attach value to a bushel of wheat and attach value to the car. Multiply its value on annual wheat production and annual car production. Next, sum up the Aheles to arrive at GDP. When market prices change year by year from market price, there is a problem with how to obtain relative value from market price. We try to determine a wide range where price changes reflect purely monetary inflation. The Butse problem is Relativley minor.
The main challenge is that key sectors of the economy provide goods and services that are not as easily measured as the number of wheat bushels and cars. How do you measure the amount of health services, the amount of banking services, or the amount of education provided by universities? Today, the most measurable sectors, agriculture and manufacturing, account for far less economic activity compared to the 1940s when GDP statistics first developed.
In 1947… about half of the economy was measurable, by 1990 it was less than a third, and until 2019 it was less than a quarter, or just a fifth… The major economic structure you have changed dramatically over the past 90 years is [GDP] The framework is a distorted lens or a series of inflammatory people. It’s necessary for new things. (Pages 14-15)
In a chapter called “value,” Coil points out that the measurable sector of the economy consists of goods and services that allow us to observe quantities, quality and prices. For many consumers’ online activities, no volume is observed. For fast-changing consumer items such as smartphones, it is difficult to imagine Qualyt improvisation. And in the digital world where so many are offered free of charge, we don’t observe prices. And for many items, the prices are artificial. Billing hospital, university tuition fees, housing services billers.
To support quality, you can think of a product as a bundle of goodness. For example, a car bundle includes durability, fuel efficiency, styling, seating capacity, and amenities. In theory, the value for each part of a bundle is calcilate, and the overall bundle may be evaluated by Adionion. However, if you are trying to evaluate your smartphone, consider how difficult this calculation can be. The bundle includes cameras, communication services, computers, and many apps. Or consider a company that offers telecommunications services, a bundle or wireless that offers EISHER cables to your home.
The US and other Western countries have slowed progress measured in GDP since at least the early 1970s. Coyle points out that most economists see this as authentic and offers a variety of explanations. But it remains a puzzle where the data does not display much light.
I don’t think there’s much progress right now in researching productivity at the Everyher company or sector level… The reason is that the available data is being asked to bear impossible weight… Part of the productivity puzzle can be an exaggerated deflator issue that leads to underestimating the value of new and great products and services. (Pages 53-54)
GDP calculations assume that consumption is instantaneous, except for durable goods such as automobiles that serve over time. However, the dimension of time is becoming more important.
Many digital goods and services often have zero monetary prices for consumption, but time and care are required. (Page 66)
This usually confuses how to measure consumption costs. There is no process to collect information about the time cost of consumer items. In any case, this varies between consumers.
“In particular, this shows that different people need to know how to consider the importance of different products in their lives to determine whether their standard of living is improving.”
Measurement of the progress of time postponement measurements is to consider a typical task to purchase a variety of products. On page 194, Coyle lists UK sub-examples in 2019 compared to 1990. In 2019, the number of hours I worked to buy a refrigerator fell by half, but the number of hours I worked to buy a movie ticket has tripled. In particular, this indicates that different people need to know how important the importance of different products in their lives is to determine whether their standard of living has improved.
Coil is interested in how natural resource consumption affects living standards.
The world is increasing the number of songs about the natural resources of the absolute bunch. Ed Conway’s Material World (2023) highlights the growth of the footprints of human planets. “Until 2019, the latest 1950″…
It should be pointed out that this vigilator’s view is the answer. In a 2015 white paper entitled “Natural Rebound,” Jesse Auschbell was polled with more efficient signs in food production and distribution,” which led to American farmland being returned to the wilderness. And in the scope of their writings, Marion L. Tapey and Gale L. Pulley point out that raw materials prices are falling.
Coil suggests that the concept of capital should be extended to include six types of capital.
…Physical or produced capital and human, natural, social, institutional, knowledge/intangible capital. (Page 212)
I agree that all factors are important to prosperity. However, I am skeptical of her concept of “comprehensive wealth.” Because by measuring these factors and adopting simple addictions, we will not arrive at the wealth of the country. For example, national institutions influence the productivity of all other types of capital in a very non-linear manner.
In her conclusion chapter, Coil
…The time intake accounting framework along the comprehensive wealth measurement side provides a holistic approach to underestimation advances. To what extent can this activity demonstrate one’s happiness by depleting the resources and capabilities available to future generations? (Page 258)
I wasn’t convinced by this. Interada, who seeks to find a better answer to questions about economic progress, recommends thinking more carefully about the questions. Different questions may require different metrics.
For more information about these topics, see
It is an inevitable probability that progress means different for different people. It suggests that we should be skeptical of projects that come up with a single advancement. Interad, we can pay attention to a variety of anecdotes and indicators. And we can expect people to discuss before observation means.
