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Decentring GDP: Well-being, care and time

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Decentring GDP: Well-being, care and time

Author: Vaca-Trigo, Iliana - Baron, Camila Physical Description: 54 páginas. Editorial: ECLAC Date: September 2022 ECLAC symbol: LC/TS.2022/80

Description

In recent years, a number of proposals have highlighted how restrictive it is to use gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of well-being. This document takes up those criticisms and also showcases the limitations of GDP as a measure of output.
What GDP measures and what it excludes is a product of conventions that reflect androcentric biases. The failure to appraise natural resources and non-remunerated services produced by households results in a skewed perspective on the economy that focuses on markets and neglects other processes that are essential to human life.
The Latin American and Caribbean region has a long history of political and technical agreements that emphasize the importance for societies of issues such as care, time distribution and well-being. The document proposes measuring what societies value and for decision-making to take on board measurements that complement GDP, time-use indicators in particular.

Table of contents

Introduction .-- I. The elusive object of economics: between output and well-being .-- II. Without care there is no well-being (or economy) .-- III. The production of well-being:centring the sustainability of life.