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The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It
Dirk Philipsen
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Description for The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It
Paperback. Num Pages: 416 pages, 2 halftones. 9 line illus. 3 tables. BIC Classification: KCZ. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 229 x 152. .
In one lifetime, GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, has ballooned from a narrow economic tool into a global article of faith. As The Little Big Number demonstrates, this spells trouble. While economies and cultures measure their performance by it, GDP only measures output. It ignores central facts such as quality, costs, or purpose. Sustainability and quality of life are overlooked. Losses don't count. The world can no longer afford GDP rule--GDP ignores real development. Dirk Philipsen demonstrates how the history of GDP reveals unique opportunities to fashion smarter goals and measures. The Little Big Number explores a possible roadmap for a future that advances quality of life rather than indiscriminate growth.
Product Details
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2017
Condition
New
Number of Pages
416
Place of Publication
New Jersey, United States
ISBN
9780691175935
SKU
V9780691175935
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Dirk Philipsen
Dirk Philipsen is a German- and American-trained professor of economic history at the Sanford School of Public Policy and a senior fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, both at Duke University.
Reviews for The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It
[Philipsen] is not the first to question the utility of GDP estimates, but he may be the most exasperated. His comprehensive history... compares GDP to any number of villains in order to make tangible the number's many flaws... He is keyed into how a culture that once burgeoned can implode, and he is anxious about ours.
Katy Lederer, New Yorker Comprehensive and readable... Philipsen is motivated by a profound dissatisfaction with the dominance of growth in the national economic agenda, and with the way in which GDP... has become a goal rather than simply a measuring tool... [I]n the end the policies he advocates may indeed prevail, and our fixation on growth in GDP as the sole indicator of human happiness may at last be laid to rest.
David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement [The Little Big Number] takes the anti-GDP case even further... Philipsen argues that not only is GDP a flawed statistic in need of replacing
but the whole notion of open-ended economic growth needs to go, too.
Kevin Hartnett, Boston Globe Some efforts are already underway, most notably the 'Beyond GDP' initiative by the European Commission, but much remains to be done. Philipsen's book is a clarion call.
Seeking Alpha [Philipsen's] call for a dialogue about setting new goals
sustainability, equity, democratic accountability, and economic viability
should command our attention... It won't be easy. But Philipsen is surely right that no task is more important.
Glenn C. Altschuler, Huffington Post Dirk Philipsen's The Little Big Number, couldn't have come at a better time.
Douglas Beal, Huffington Post [A] provocative and insightful book... The book stands on its own as a piece of economic history, but also serves as an important call for social change.
Alex Mitchell, Consumption Markets & Culture This book nicely summarizes the many critiques of GDP. Philipsen's knowledge of economic theory, statistics, econometric accounting, and history is impressive.
Stephen Macekura, American Historical Review Its cautionary story of the creation of GNP accounting is eye-opening, and well told. The list of ways that GDP could be improved, even as a measure of production ... all provoke thought. The book easily could be used as a directory of research criticizing GDP.
Donald Frey, EH.Net
Katy Lederer, New Yorker Comprehensive and readable... Philipsen is motivated by a profound dissatisfaction with the dominance of growth in the national economic agenda, and with the way in which GDP... has become a goal rather than simply a measuring tool... [I]n the end the policies he advocates may indeed prevail, and our fixation on growth in GDP as the sole indicator of human happiness may at last be laid to rest.
David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement [The Little Big Number] takes the anti-GDP case even further... Philipsen argues that not only is GDP a flawed statistic in need of replacing
but the whole notion of open-ended economic growth needs to go, too.
Kevin Hartnett, Boston Globe Some efforts are already underway, most notably the 'Beyond GDP' initiative by the European Commission, but much remains to be done. Philipsen's book is a clarion call.
Seeking Alpha [Philipsen's] call for a dialogue about setting new goals
sustainability, equity, democratic accountability, and economic viability
should command our attention... It won't be easy. But Philipsen is surely right that no task is more important.
Glenn C. Altschuler, Huffington Post Dirk Philipsen's The Little Big Number, couldn't have come at a better time.
Douglas Beal, Huffington Post [A] provocative and insightful book... The book stands on its own as a piece of economic history, but also serves as an important call for social change.
Alex Mitchell, Consumption Markets & Culture This book nicely summarizes the many critiques of GDP. Philipsen's knowledge of economic theory, statistics, econometric accounting, and history is impressive.
Stephen Macekura, American Historical Review Its cautionary story of the creation of GNP accounting is eye-opening, and well told. The list of ways that GDP could be improved, even as a measure of production ... all provoke thought. The book easily could be used as a directory of research criticizing GDP.
Donald Frey, EH.Net