Question

"Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. "Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.“ Read the beautiful statement by Robert Kennedy above on the important aspects that GDP does not include. Provide an explanation of why this is case, and whether this is a problem.

Answer 1

Undoubtedly Robert Kennedy has stated drawbacks of our GDP calculations very beautifully. GDP does not include all these aspects while calculations because all these aspects are qualitative and GDP calculations only include quantitative aspects means only those information which we can measure in numerical terms and it is one of the biggest demerit of GDP calculation.

Yes it is a problem but if we see other way than we will find that these are the indirect factors or aspects which lead to GDP growth because healthy and educated children make a good human resource to increase production and our social and mental development is important for the growth of a country. All these factors indirectly contribute in our GDP.