The Inclusive Wealth Indicator
India and Brazil have had explosive growth over the last decade. Or have they? A new measurement of the true wealth of nations finds that what countries give up for a rise in GDP may be incredibly costly.
Brazil and India have paid dearly for their rapid economic growth. By conventional measures, these two countries have only grown richer: Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita rose 34% and 120% respectively between 1990 and 2008. But the countries’ natural wealth has nosedived as their economic activity ballooned.
But GDP is not the be all and end all of economic success. There are other ways to measure the progress of a society. One way to think about economies is as the aggregate of three sorts of capital: physical (infrastructure and the means of production), human (skills and education) and natural capital. While the first two are renewable (some argue inexhaustible), natural resources such as fossil fuels, soil, biodiversity, and even forests may be depleted, sometimes permanently.
via Fast Company
The Latest Global News: The Inclusive Wealth Indicator