A procedure for globally institutionalizing a ‘beyond-GDP’ metric

Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107257

A procedure for globally institutionalizing a ‘beyond-GDP’ metric

Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

If governments are serious about meeting environmental and social goals, they should overcome dominance of the GDP indicator in political discourse. Institutionalizing a beyond-GDP metric would be an essential step, in interaction with a shift in the direction of an “agrowth” paradigm. For a significant step forward, a permanent UN panel could be charged to explore the options and prepare a metric for global implementation. This essay outlines the choice spectrum and provides criteria and guidelines for the metric-selection process. It is suggested that the panel considers four critical dimensions of potential alternatives, namely means versus ends, objective versus subjective information, aggregate index versus multiple indicators, and monetary versus other units. In deciding about each dimension, serious attention needs to be given to the psychological-communicative appeal of the resulting options, so as to guarantee a fluent uptake of the selected beyond-GDP metric in society, media and politics. The combined environmental and inequality crises at national and global scales make this the right time to finally translate a respectable history of beyond-GDP thinking into practical action.

Original language	English
Article number	107257
Pages (from-to)	1-5
Number of pages	5
Journal	Ecological Economics
Volume	192
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107257
Publication status	Published - Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Although we have learned useful lessons from research on alternative progress metrics, this has not translated into implementation of an alternative indicator as a core element of current national indicator systems. The reason is that GDP is hard to compete with, having become a global standard that is adopted in virtually all countries. It is supported by a transparent accounting framework laid out in the System of National Accounts (SNA), whose harmonization is institutionally supported by the United Nations (UN). In contrast, the Beyond-GDP community still lacks a common, harmonized language, as well as global institutions and organizations that could support it. In line with this, it is very heterogeneous, proposes many different indicators, and uses a variety of terms for similar or even identical concepts relating to well-being, progress or sustainability (Hoekstra, 2019).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author

Keywords

Beyond GDP
Economic growth
Gross domestic product
United Nations

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A procedure for globally institutionalizing a ‘beyond-GDP’ metric

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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