The trouble with GDP and emerging markets
Is Africa poor? Yes, compared to other regions of the world. But this apparently straightforward question is harder to answer than it seems. This shows why the technicalities involved in ...
1981, BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Brasenose College, Oxford; 1987, MA; 1983, AM and 1985, PhD in Economics, Harvard Univ. 1981-85, Research Assistant, Nat'l Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge; 1985-86, Senior Economic Assistant, HM Treasury; 1986-88, Senior Economist, DRI Europe; 1988-89, Intern, The Economist; 1989-93, European Editor, Investors Chronicle. The Independent 1993- 2001. Founder, Enlightenment Economics. Professor of Economics, University of Manchester. Member of Council, Royal Economic Society; Trustee of Centre for Economic Policy, NIESR, ProBono Economics & CORE Economics. Member of American Economic Association and Society of Business Economists. Fellow Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. Author of numerous publications inc. GDP, A Brief But Affectionate History. OBE, 2009.
Is Africa poor? Yes, compared to other regions of the world. But this apparently straightforward question is harder to answer than it seems. This shows why the technicalities involved in ...
One headline indicator dominates public debate about the health or otherwise of the economy, and that is growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Since it was first developed as an international standard in the 1940s, the System of National Accounts, and particularly the definition of GDP, has been subject to debate. Areas of conte...