Macroeconomics › Section F · The macroeconomic perspective › Topic F.5
How well GDP measures well-being
GDP per capita is the most quoted measure of how well off a country is, yet it ignores leisure, health, clean air and how income is shared. Knowing what it misses, and why it is still useful, is part of reading any economic headline wisely.
In this topic
- Output is not the whole of life
- Leisure counts for nothing in GDP
- Worked example: output per hour
- Spending is not the same as results
- Unpaid work and the market shift
- Averages hide inequality
- Worked example: a misleading average
- New products and "bads"
- Overstating or understating?
- Other measures, and why GDP survives
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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