Heads of state meet for the 2018 G7 summit. Photo by Flickr User.

As we head into a post-Trump reconstruction of our country, it is imperative to consider how fundamental values of a country such as freedom, equal opportunity, and success will translate through the measurements we are using to track progress. How do we incorporate more accurate measures of success in a reevaluation of our priorities as a nation? GDP, for instance, will be an integral part of the equation after seeing a 34.3% decrease in the second quarter due to the coronavirus. GDP, the measure of the total market value of goods and services produced by a country’s economy during a specified period of time, is calculated by adding together consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports. Noticeably missing from these factors are the pressing concerns of Americans: income inequality, racial inequality, and impacts of climate change. It is for this reason that it is necessary to look at far more than just the economy in the coming months and years. The standing of a country and its citizens are worth more than inputs and outputs.

Inventions are often born in times of absolute necessity, when we are forced to overcome threats to American well-being. The measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was introduced to the U.S. Congress in 1937 by Simon Kuznets, an economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research, in the midst of The Great Depression. On the brink of another world war, there was a need to demonstrate that we could recover as a country. For that purpose, GDP was incredibly useful, as we could track and report the value of goods and services within a given time frame. However, GDP is a limited measure, and the extent to which it is extrapolated is concerning. The United States is in desperate need of an effective measure of human well-being that prioritizes improvement beyond fiscal growth.

Kuznets himself warned of the limitations of a measure such as GDP, stating “the welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income.” However, that is precisely what has happened: GDP has become the go-to figure to point to the standing of a country, with other, more holistic measurements playing second fiddle. The value placed on GDP inhibits countries from advancing sustainable development goals and other progressive measures. Since we live in a democracy where most elected officials are running every two, four, or six years, there is great pressure to be able to point to statistics and claim credit for improvements. Many turn to numbers that provide constituents with an incredibly incomplete picture and campaign for reelection on a manufactured version of success. Not only does this explain why the U.S. is more reactive than proactive, but it also explains our inability to make strides in environmental goals and health care (including mental health support). It starts to make sense that inequality, in its many forms, persists blatantly in America because inequality is not accounted for in GDP. If it isn’t calculated in GDP, it is not a priority for politicians that are only focused on planning their reelection.

The fact that GDP focuses on economic prosperity is not inherently the issue. The issue rises out of GDP being politicized as a means of re-election and nationalism without including the calculation of well-being in GDP or the budget. This makes it easy for politicians to obscure various social and environmental measures by pointing only to GDP, as Trump has done repeatedly to claim recovery from the economic hit of the coronavirus (and to take jabs at Democrats). There have been 84 completed rollbacks of environmental protection rules under the Trump administration, 2.3 million people became uninsured before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 700,000 people almost lost food stamp benefits before a federal judge struck down the action. For an administration that touts “all lives matter,” these actions have illustrated that they believe millions of lives are, in fact, expendable.

Jacinda Ardern is sworn in as New Zealand’s Prime Minister in 2017. Photo by Appointment of the New Ministry.

It’s easy to tell what a country values by what is measured, studied, and improved upon. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became the first to implement a well-being budget. Money in the budget is allocated for mental health, child well-being, supporting indigenous populations, lowering carbon emissions, and thriving in a digital age. In five measurable categories, New Zealand has accomplished what feels impossible in the United States: valuing people over profit. By putting money into policies that meet the evolving needs of the country, New Zealand invested in a better future instead of just talking about it. If the United States followed the example that New Zealand has set and went even further by integrating human well-being into GDP, we could be on the frontier of measuring how the welfare of our citizens is changing, and hopefully improving—the frontier of evolving our metrics. This would force administrations to prioritize everything measured into GDP, not just what is attractive to the base of their supporters. There’s a reason Biden has been emphatically urging unity: making decisions to benefit only half of the country deepens the toxic divide that is our greatest hindrance to progress.

America has found itself at a crossroads: we voted out the man that held up a mirror to the ugliest parts of our country, we danced in the streets to celebrate, and now, it is time to get to work replacing promises with action. The economy and GDP have been weaponized and used as a political tool to manipulate people into believing that our country is not at the reckoning that it is. By incorporating different measures of well-being (racial and income equality, mental health care, reliable and affordable health care, etc) into GDP, a greater portion of our population would have a more cumulative sense of growth. We need to take advantage of the fact that GDP is a relatively familiar measure and expand it to encompass, rather than obscure, American well-being. By adapting the national measure of GDP, caring about social, climate, and racial justice becomes a non-partisan priority.

We have lost a lot these past four years. Now, we dig our heels in and fight, not for a return to politics as normal, but for progressive policies and measures. We should not only be looking at the very blueprint that led us to an America that elected Donald Trump—we need to be listening to and investing in the pleas and demands of Americans suffering in a system that is not protecting them. What we don’t measure we cannot improve; we need to begin by confronting the extensiveness of the inequality in America and placing that in the same measure that we turn to observe growth, so growth translates into meaningful change beyond the economy. It’s not that the U.S. doesn’t have the money or infrastructure to do so, it’s that we lack uniting values and political will across partisan lines to catalyze action. By forcing politicians to confront the well-being of their constituents and their country, we personalize politics. If Americans saw their needs objectively reflected in the national GDP, it could transform how Americans related to their government. It could restore faith that our elected officials serve us, and it could generate enormous investment in policies that we categorically need.

Olivia Deming is a Staff Writer at CPR and a first-year student in Columbia College planning to study Political Science. Originally from Michigan, she is enjoying exploring the city and growing roots in her new home.

Weaponizing GDP: Why Human Well-Being Suffers for the Sake of Economy