Beyond GDP: Who Grows and at What Cost?

Más allá del PIB: ¿Quién crece y a qué precio?

Javier Soria-Espin (), Enrique Chueca Montuenga () and Bernardino León-Reyes ()
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Javier Soria-Espin: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Enrique Chueca Montuenga: Future Policy Lab
Bernardino León-Reyes: CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) from HAL

Abstract: This report examines the limitations of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the main economic indicator and proposes complementary measures to improve the measurement of well-being in relation to two major challenges: inequality and climate change. It does so focusing on the case study of Spain. GDP, traditionally used to estimate the output and income generated in an economy, does not capture crucial factors such as income distribution, the environmental impact of economic activities, and unpaid work, resulting in an incomplete representation of economic well-being. To better measure inequality, it is proposed to use the "Real-Time Inequality" methodology to obtain monthly statistics on the distribution of income and wealth growth, expand access to administrative microdata, and use indicators such as the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). Regarding climate change, the importance of integrating environmental statistics to measure the impact of productive activities on natural assets is highlighted. It is suggested to improve the capacities of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) to produce more detailed and frequent environmental statistics, as well as to implement international standards to measure these impacts. In addition, the practice of budget climate labeling is recommended in order to prioritize public spending on climate policies, thus facilitating more efficient planning and allocation of economic resources.

Keywords: GDP; Spain; inequality; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env and nep-hap
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04669166v1
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Published in Future Policy Lab; Instituto Español de Analistas. 2023

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-04669166

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