Editing Gross domestic product (section)

=== Proposals to overcome GDP limitations ===
In response to these and other limitations of using GDP, alternative approaches have emerged.
* In the 1980s, [[Amartya Sen]] and [[Martha Nussbaum]] developed the [[capability approach]], which focuses on the functional capabilities enjoyed by people within a country, rather than the aggregate wealth held within a country. These capabilities consist of the functions that a person is able to achieve.<ref>{{cite book |title=An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability : Approach |year=2009|publisher=Earthscan Ltd. |isbn=978-1-84407-806-6|edition=1st |location=London|last1=Shahani|first1= Lila|first2=Severine|last2= Deneulin}}</ref>
* In 1990, [[Mahbub ul Haq]], a Pakistani economist at the United Nations, introduced the [[Human Development Index]] (HDI). The HDI is a composite index of life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate and standard of living measured as a logarithmic function of GDP, adjusted to purchasing power parity.
* In 2009 the [[European Union]] released a communication titled ''GDP and beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world''<ref name="euro">{{cite web |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF |title=GDP and beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world |access-date=26 February 2012 |publisher=European Union |year=2009 |archive-date=4 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104210253/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF |url-status=live }}</ref> that identified five actions to improve indicators of progress in ways that make them more responsive to the concerns of its citizens.
* In 2009 Professors [[Joseph Stiglitz]], [[Amartya Sen]], and [[Jean-Paul Fitoussi]] at the [[Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress]] (CMEPSP), formed by French President, [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] published a proposal to overcome the limitation of GDP economics to expand the focus to well-being economics with a well-being framework consisting of health, environment, work, physical safety, economic safety, and political freedom. This has been adopted in a number of countries as a [[wellbeing economy]] policy.
* In 2008, the [[Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research|Centre for Bhutan Studies]] began publishing the [[Gross National Happiness#Bhutanese GNH index|Bhutan Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index]], whose contributors to happiness include physical, mental, and spiritual health; time balance; social and community vitality; cultural vitality; education; living standards; good governance; and ecological vitality.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/antistasis/article/viewFile/21119/24379 |title="Bhutan GNH Index" |access-date=2017-03-04 |archive-date=2015-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212072510/http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/antistasis/article/viewFile/21119/24379 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* In 2013, the [[OECD Better Life Index]] was published by the OECD. The dimensions of the index included health, economic, workplace, income, jobs, housing, civic engagement, and [[life satisfaction]].
* Since 2012, John Helliwell, [[Richard Layard, Baron Layard|Richard Layard]] and [[Jeffrey Sachs]] have edited an annual [[World Happiness Report]] which reports a national measure of subjective well-being, derived from a single survey question on satisfaction with life. GDP explains some of the cross-national variation in life satisfaction, but more of it is explained by other, social variables (See 2013 World Happiness Report).
* In 2019, Erik Brynjolfsson and Avinash Collis argued that GDP does not reflect the growing value of many digital goods because they have zero price.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Brynjolfsson |first1=Erik |last2=Collis |first2=Avinash |date=2019-11-01 |title=How Should We Measure the Digital Economy? |url=https://hbr.org/2019/11/how-should-we-measure-the-digital-economy |access-date=2024-01-21 |work=Harvard Business Review |issn=0017-8012}}</ref> Along with several coauthors, they proposed an alternative approach, [https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/research/gdp-b-a-new-well-being-metric-in-the-era-of-the-digital-economy/ GDP-B], which is based on measuring the ''benefits'' of goods and services, rather than their price or cost.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Brynjolfsson |first1=Erik |title=GDP-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods in the Digital Economy |date=March 2019 |type=Working Paper |url=https://www.nber.org/papers/w25695 |access-date=2024-01-21 |series=Working Paper Series |doi=10.3386/w25695 |last2=Collis |first2=Avinash |last3=Diewert |first3=W. Erwin |last4=Eggers |first4=Felix |last5=Fox |first5=Kevin J.|hdl=1959.4/unsworks_59015 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
* At the beginning of the 21st century the World Economic Forum published a series of analyses and propositions to create economic measurement tools more effective than GDP.<ref>{{cite web |title=Beyond GDP |url=https://www.weforum.org/focus/beyond-gdp |publisher=World Economic Forum |access-date=13 July 2022 |archive-date=13 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713105202/https://www.weforum.org/focus/beyond-gdp |url-status=live }}</ref>
* China launched the [[Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP)]] in 2020. It measures the contribution of ecosystems to the economy, including by regulating climate. It spread widely across the country. The first province to issue local rules about GEP was [[Zhejiang ]], and a year later it has already decided the fate of a project in the [[Deqing County, Zhejiang|Deqing]] region. For example, the GEP of Chengtian Radon Spring Nature Reserve has been calculated as US$43 million.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mengnan |first1=Jiang |title=Zhejiang counts 'gross ecosystem product' of nature reserve |url=https://chinadialogue.net/en/digest/zhejiang-counts-gross-ecosystem-product-of-nature-reserve/ |website=China Dialogue |date=4 April 2024 |access-date=7 April 2024}}</ref>