Sir, – Further to your editorial "A strong performance" (December 30th), while clearly welcoming the improvement in our national finances and the decline in unemployment, isn't it time that we stopped using the very blunt instrument that is GDP as a measure of our success or failure, when it fails miserably to do so?
Measuring economic activity alone has already led us up a number of very costly cul-de-sacs. GDP includes economic activity caused by and dealing with many negative aspects of our society.
For example,on a domestic level we can expect to see an increase in GDP resulting from the rapid rise in obesity and the associated illnesses; a wide range of illnesses both mental and physical resulting from our unhealthy relationship with alcohol; increasing storm damage resulting from man-made climate change; the increasing technology and energy needed to make water drinkable; and the many societal impacts of increasing inequality.
On the global level, along with everyone else, Ireland is rapidly depleting the natural resources that we rely on entirely for our wellbeing – in the ridiculous expectation of an exponentially increasing GDP.
Since we live on a planet with finite resources, growth that surpasses the resources of a finite planet cannot be maintained and it is therefore a matter of “when” and not “if” the current model fails.
A model based on unrestricted economic growth that relies on the depletion of our natural capital and threatens our ecosystem services is just not sustainable. It is time to face up to this reality and to start measuring what we need to achieve for the wellbeing of this and future generations and for the health and stability of the natural environment on which our social and economic sustainability entirely depends. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL EWING,
Boyle,
Co Roscommon.
Sir, – So long as our neighbours in Britain and continental Europe do not suffer an economic relapse then we should have cause for hope. We are not out of the woods yet. – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA O’RIORDAN,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – In discussing the health of the economy, journalists and economists frequently remind us of the difference between gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national product (GNP) to cool our jets when the former is invoked by politicians to fuel rumours of recovery.
Apparently even GNP is a distorted reflection of our economic strength – since the profits of “redomiciled plcs” are treated as part of GNP even though they mostly belong to shareholders outside the country.
Despite this, GDP and GNP data are still used to justify important decisions.
Could I suggest they put their heads together and come up with a formula that does accurately measure productivity?
I suggest it be called gross actual product – or GAP. – Yours, etc,
SUZANNE BYRNE,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.