"GDP Only Tells Us So Much": Jacinda Ardern

Update. See also links at the end of this posting.
 

pn242

I've been engaged in an email exchange with Scott McWilliam who thinks the multiple variables Social Progress Index I promoted in a recent posting (pn225) is largely codswallop. He thinks Oxfam's single variable  shows "real progress not imaginary ones such as equality of education ..."  I strongly disagree.

Single variable statements  such as the Oxfam report he mentions and statistical measures such as GNP, as noted at Davos by PM Jacinda Ardern, have their place, but  the Oxfam report is useless as a planning tool and GDP's use is limited  Jacinda seems to agree with me. 

Here's Scott's email and the Oxfam report link, followed by what Jacinda had to say:

Dear Croz,

While their solution is typically drippy, Oxfam have a better indicator of Social Progress than anything published on your blog or in that Index you cite:

`the number of billionaires owning as much wealth as half the world’s population fell from 43 in 2017 to 26 last year. In 2016 the number was 61.’

See here: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/21/world-26-richest-people-own-as-much-as-poorest-50-per-cent-oxfam-report .

This is real progress not imaginary ones such as equality of education, health care etc etc. We are after all living in a capitalist world, where as Warren Buffett acknowledged, classes exist and one is winning.

Cheers,

Scott

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has signalled to Government ministers they’ll need to prove any new policies will improve the well-being of New Zealanders "across generations" if they want funding to implement them.

Ms Ardern made the comments to media at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (my emphasis).

"GDP (Gross Domestic Product) only tells us so much, it doesn’t tell us about mental well-being, what’s going on with housing people, performance of our education system," she says. "It should be about how well are we actually performing as a government for the people."

Ms Ardern went on to say, "GDP can go up when you’re degrading your environment. We need to look more broadly about what success means and it has to mean an environment that is well looked after, people that are cared for and businesses and regions that are thriving."

She says institutions like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have been encouraging economies to look beyond economic measures of success, like GDP, and look at the well-being of people.

New Zealand is one of the first countries to implement this and Ms Ardern says other countries are following with interest.

Ms Adern said if ministers want money for policies from this year's Budget they will "essentially need to show that what they’re doing will improve the well-being of New Zealanders across generations".

Finance Minister Grant Robertson who is with the Prime Minister in Davos told media, "For too long budgets have just been about how much money am I as an individual minister going to get. We’re interested in the big pictures outcomes and how each minister can contribute to that."  

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/improving-well-being-new-zealanders-across-generations-criteria-budget-policy-funding-jacinda-ardern

The Social Progress Index can be used at international, national and sub-national (regions, cities, communities) levels.  

Click here to see the 2018 index for NZ.  You may need to change "Norway" to "New Zealand".

See also the New Zealand Wealth Gap
http://nzh.tw/12195043

Gordon Campbell, Ardern and Wellbeing
http://community.scoop.co.nz/2019/01/gordon-campbell-on-ardern-davos-and-the-wellbeing-schtick/

-- ACW