Saturday, 25 February 2012

Not all wealth is derived from spending and trade

Gross domestic product (GDP) can be increased by taxation. If savings are appropriated by the state which would not otherwise have been spent and then spent by the state this contributes to the GDP. So GDP is clearly a measure of something other than wealth.

Even if GDP excludes government spending (and measures private transactions only) it is still not a measure of wealth. Spending alone does not create wealth although efficiencies derived from the division of labour are reliant on (at least) some spending. Private GDP could be said to be a measure of the extent to which the division of labour is being exploited but no more than that.

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