5 ms·

economic growth, albeit imperfect, is a measure of things getting better for society. So, we should worry about worldwide economic growth, but not necessarily

economic growth, albeit imperfect, is a measure of things getting better for society. So, we should worry about worldwide economic growth, but not necessarily Swedish economic growth. Another point is, lack of growth is a leading indicator of the situation getting worse in the future, even if it is pretty good now. So, yes, economic growth is an imperfect measure, but we have few if any alternatives to economic growth in terms of assessing how things are going in an objective way

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
Not so much imperfect as deceptively irrelevant. "Growth" has absolutely nothing useful to say about "things getting better for society." Things get better for society when jobs pay well, high quality education is freely accessible, talent and creativity are rewarded, cost of entry for entrepreneurship is low, and ecological support systems are stable. There's nothing even remotely difficult about measuring these factors. "Growth" is just a convenient way to disguise increasing inequality and decreasing economic freedom for the majority of the population. If the growth is never distributed it's a useless metric.
- vasilipupkin 12y ago
  try to think in terms of statistical models, rather than absolute statements. Imagine a continuum in which things you mention receive a numerical score. Growth is a number. It is a number which will have a non-zero correlation with the numerical scores of the things you mention. You can also build models that try to forecast growth based on those scores, and vice versa, forecast those scores based on growth. Once you think in those terms, you can dispense with terminology such as "irrelevant", "useless", "absolutely nothing", etc.
- ArkyBeagle 12y ago
  Inequality seems to be mostly inversely proportional to growth. Low interest rates are fertile soil for inequality. If I can just buy Certificates of Deposit and live off the interest, instead of having to invest directly, that seems to me to be more egalitarian than less. Low interest rates brighten the line between us ordinary people and professional investors.

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

Not so much imperfect as deceptively irrelevant. "Growth" has absolutely nothing useful to say about "things getting better for society." Things get better for society when jobs pay well, high quality education is freely accessible, talent and creativity are rewarded, cost of entry for entrepreneurship is low, and ecological support systems are stable. There's nothing even remotely difficult about measuring these factors. "Growth" is just a convenient way to disguise increasing inequality and decreasing economic freedom for the majority of the population. If the growth is never distributed it's a useless metric.

vasilipupkin 12y ago
try to think in terms of statistical models, rather than absolute statements. Imagine a continuum in which things you mention receive a numerical score. Growth is a number. It is a number which will have a non-zero correlation with the numerical scores of the things you mention. You can also build models that try to forecast growth based on those scores, and vice versa, forecast those scores based on growth. Once you think in those terms, you can dispense with terminology such as "irrelevant", "useless", "absolutely nothing", etc.
ArkyBeagle 12y ago
Inequality seems to be mostly inversely proportional to growth. Low interest rates are fertile soil for inequality. If I can just buy Certificates of Deposit and live off the interest, instead of having to invest directly, that seems to me to be more egalitarian than less. Low interest rates brighten the line between us ordinary people and professional investors.