Subject: Redefining Progress Projects Genuine Progress Indicator
From: "Haleh y Lucio Capalbo" <[email-masked]>
To: "UNIDA" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 02:37:24 -0000

Redefining Progress: Projects: Genuine Progress Indicator

            Home > Projects >
            Genuine Progress Indicator 

     
             . Home
            . What's New
            . Make A Donation
            . Join RP's E-mail Update List
            . Discussion Boards
            . Search the Site

             . Accurate Prices
            . Climate Change
            . Common Assets
            . Sustainability

             . Media Releases
            . RP In The Media
            . Publications

             . Community Indicators
            . Ecological Footprint
            . Genuine Progress Indicator

             . Job Opportunities
            . Internships
            . Staff
            . Board of Directors
            . Contact Information

            Redefining Progress
            1904 Franklin Street
            6th Floor
            Oakland, CA 94612

            Telephone: (510) 444-3041
            [email-masked]

           
      E-Mail This Page to a Friend 
            Printer Friendly Version 

            GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR

            GROSS PRODUCTION VS. GENUINE PROGRESS, 1950 to 1999

            In 1996 Dollars

            You've seen the headlines, "GDP Up!" Good news, right? Not really. The gross domestic product simply adds up all the money we spend, and calls the results economic growth. Yet for years, economists, policymakers, reporters, and the public have relied on the GDP as a shorthand indicator of progress.

            In 1995, Redefining Progress created a more accurate measure of progress, called the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). It starts with the same accounting framework as the GDP, but then makes some crucial distinctions: It adds in the economic contributions of household and volunteer work, but subtracts factors such as crime, pollution, and family breakdown. We continue to update the GPI on a yearly basis to document a more truthful picture of economic progress.

            The Genuine Progress Indicator for 2000 (Released December 2001)

              Redefining Progress has released its annual Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) update.

              While the GPI rose slightly in the year 2000, it remains $23,947 per capita below the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The GPI rose slightly in 2000 to reach $2.63 trillion (as measured in 1996 dollars). This represents growth of $64 billion (or 2.5 percent) over its 1999 level. Per capita GPI rose by $148 (or 1.6 percent) to $9,550. These figures compare to a GDP in 2000 of $9.22 trillion (as measured in 1996 dollars). The GDP grew in 2000 by $348 billion (or 3.9 percent). Per capita GDP rose by $978 (or 3.0 percent) to $33,497.
              a.. Read the media release. 
              b.. Download the report in pdf format 
            REPORTS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS

            The Genuine Progress Indicator for 1999 (Released December 2000)

            The economic boom of 1999 made headlines and fortunes in the U.S. The GPI for 1999 was up-but at what costs?

            This year's release of the GPI shows dramatic decreases in social and environmental capital. Skyrocketing personal consumption, powered by debt and relieved by increasing bankruptcies, accounted for 75 percent of the GPI rise in 1999.

            Warning signs say this can't continue. Overextended workers with less leisure time.accelerated ecological degradation.and exploding consumer debt aren't sustainable.

            That's what the GPI for 1999 indicates. And today's headlines point to a slowing of economic growth that indicates the costs of last year's boom may be coming home to roost.

            Learn more:

              a.. Press release 
              b.. Complete version of the Genuine Progress Indicator report for 1999 (PDF) 
            GPI Update For 1998 (Released 1999)

              a.. Why Bigger Isn't Better: Genuine Progress Indicator 1999 Update
              There is a disconnect between what the government is tracking, the politicians are calculating, and Americans are experiencing. The GPI helps Americans see why and where. This year's update illustrates how the unequal distribution of economic growth, increasing financial debts to the future, and the degradation and depletion of natural resources all contribute to the discrepency between economic growth and our well-being.
              The report can also be downloaded in PDF format  (208k)

              Food for Thought: The GDP Is Padded with Fat -- Ours
              This 1999 case study provides data demonstrating the absurdity of counting all growth in consumption as progress. The food industry illustrates the differences between consumption that adds and detracts from genuine quality of life and demonstrates the self-replicating, self-expanding nature of economic growth.

              Consuming Kids
              The second case study for 1999 further highlights the need to distinguish between different types of consumption, with different effects on the consumers' physical, mental, and psychological health. It also demonstrates how children are being socialized to buy and to buy into the idea that consumption is the route to happiness as well as the index of progress. Meanwhile, advertising creates a continuous flow of consumers to perpetuate the pattern of empty economic growth.

              b.. GPI 1998 Revised Data and Methodology
              An updated techincal overview of the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) that reflects the methodological changes made for the 1998 update. Also includes summary of column by column data. The methodology outlined here also applies to the 1999 update.
              Download PDF version  (208k)

              GPI 1998 Update -- Executive Summary
              Last year's update shows that, despite rapid GDP growth, the quality of life for many Americans continues to decline in key respects, largely due to dramatic increases in income inequality.
              Download PDF version  (364k)

              c.. Contents of the GPI
              Brief overview of the major compontents that go into the Genuine Progress Indicator.

              d.. What's wrong with the GDP?
              Outline of some major defects of the GDP as a measure of well-being.

            RELATED ONLINE ARTICLES ABOUT THE GPI AND GDP

            "The Growth Consensus Unravels" by Jonathan Rowe. Dollars and Sense, July-August 1999, pp. 15-18, 33.

            "Real Wealth: The Genuine Progress Indicator Could Provide an Environmental Measure of the Planet's Health" by Linda Baker. E Magazine, May/June 1999, pp. 37-41.

            "The GDP Myth: Why 'Growth' Isn't Always a Good Thing" by Jonathan Rowe, and Judith Silverstein. Washington Monthly, March 1999, pp. 17-21.

            "If the GDP Is Up, Why Is America Down?" by Clifford Cobb, Ted Halstead, and Jonathan Rowe. Atlantic Monthly, October 1995, pp. 59-78.

     
            | Privacy Policy | On-Line Menu | Programs | Media Center | Projects | About RP | 
            © 1994-2001 Redefining Progress

            REDEFINING PROGRESS
            1904 Franklin Street, 6th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612
            Phone: 510-444-3041 . Fax: 510-444-3191
            [email-masked]