One method that might create a more adequate system of measuring Gross Domestic Product could start out by adding all the W2 forms given out before tax season, as a result you could figure out a possible and maybe more acquit measurement of GDP.
I believe we should start measuring the consumer sending in the average American household. Most of the average American spend money they dont have on miscellaneous products,they want the a name brand purse or shoes and they spend their rent or car payment on it. I think if you show the average American what they spend on miscellaneous objects, we as Americans will start cutting back on spending and start making sure our bills are paid for. They will start realizing they are hurting the economy and what to make a different.
I feel like a better measure of the economy would be average household income. Because consumers spend the money they make on food, gas, clothes, etc. They are putting the money back into the economy. So the average household income would show how much they are able to spend on consumer goods. - Emily Aragon
i feel that a better measure of the economy would be the average income of each household. a family spends money on not only bills like gas and electricity but also miscellaneous things as well.it can show how much money the household is putting back into the economy.
Even though GDP does not give us the exact measurement of how well the economy and the people are doing, it has some shortcuts advantages of giving the readers a quick glance of HOW the economy of one country is doing in general. If I have to propose another measurement for measuring the well-being of an economy, I would say that the measure of employment rate is the best candidate. There is a strong and positive correlation between the employment rate and the economic growth of an economy. An economy is strengthened when there are more jobs and opportunities created for the people and vice versa when the unemployment rate goes up. By measuring the employment rate of a country, one could, possibly and hopefully, determine and estimate the well-being of that country's economy.
We are all so accustomed to relying on GDP when measuring the economy of a country. It is hard to think of a more adequate way of measuring it but if I had to think of one it would be the percentage of people in a country that completed a post secondary education. It is pretty obvious that people who complete a post secondary education earn higher wages, which tends to lead to a higher consumption rate. Not only does it lead to higher consumption rates but it is also results in advancement in technology, overall good decision making, and a general higher living standard which all contribute to a better economy. Since a general higher education leads to so many benefits I think it is an adequate way to measure the economy of a country.
Another way of measuring GDP would be to break it down to geographic areas like regions or states. This way of measurement seems to be a healthier way to me because it would show how much a state brings to the table and show the living standards in that state.
There are alot of measurements any person can think of that will be alot better than the GDP measurement we use today. For example, how much a family spends year round on necessities, or how about, how much a household spends on emergency bills, or debt(cause by unnecessary things). I agree with the measurement of the average household spends on necessities should be taken in consideration. Alot of individuals don't take in consideration of unexpected circumstances that may occur. For example a flood, or an earthquake, individuals have to repair the damages and there's alot of money spend to fix those problems cause by disastrous events. So the money they spend goes back into the economy and are actually creating more jobs for other individuals. Which is better for the economy. Debt is also another good measurement because Americans tend to spend money on things they don't need and most Americans are materialistic so they end up creating debt even at a young age.So i believe these three measurements would make the GDP measurement better.
Well lets see? GDP, I used to think a nice census but time and practice shows it does not work because society refuses to subject themselves to it. I only state this because in a Utopian society we could evaluate the state of the nation as a whole. Not just millionaires, billionaires, poor, midway what ever, but how well is the country doing as a state, as in a state of the Nations true well being?
one possible better way for measurement but not necessarily better for one's comfort is to have everyone on a card use pay method only basis. The government might input a chip in people's ATM cards and credit cards which will send an electronic signal on how much and on what people are spending their money on.
GDP is a useful measure in many ways. It is a pretty universal measurement and can give a general idea of a nation's productivity easily comparable to other nations. There could be a better measure, however. For example, calculating a nation's per capita GDP can give an idea of the available wealth. A country could have a relatively small GDP but a small population giving it a high GDP per capita. I think the best measure is really dependent upon what you are looking to study and what discipline you come from. No one figure can accurately describe all of the elements that can be studied.
I think a good way to determine how well a country is doing is by figuring out the overall spending of each household or city. That way you could see how each city is doing and how that city might effect the whole country. It woud show how much people or the city are actually spending.
A better system than GDP in my opinion, would be asking for each households income in a census done every year along with their taxes, then this income will be rounded off and placed into regions to demonstate which ones are high and lows. So on this will be done every year to see where it's improving and where it's decreasing.
i think that in order to gain a better view of how our economy is doing we need to obtain an average household income on a yearly basis. Average income is a good starting point for an estimate of how much money is put back into our economy. Most of our income goes towards payments of bills such as gas, electric, and house payments.
I actually think that GDP is an adequate measure of the economy, but there are also other options. Another measure of the ecomony could be calculating the total income made per family including the number of people who live in the house. Also, measuring the amount of money that is spend and including the area in which they live in. It all depends if there middle class or high class.
A good idea in figuring out the an adequate measure of economy would be the average household income. This would give a broad view of how much each household spends.
Just throwing it out for consideration: does anyone think an improved measure of progress would include some estimate of "happiness" or "health" or "longevity"? Thoughts?
I Think that as GDP gets devided per capita it gets distorted through the extreme values. If rather than taking the amount divided by the ppl as you would with GDP you took all household imcomes and then took the mode or median of that number it would be a more accurate dipiction of the economy. -amy
I agree and believe that the GDP is an inadequate measurement just for the fact that was brought up in class about the illegal trafficing. Countries know or have at least an estimate on how much income comes into their country from drugs. If there could be a way to measure the best estimated amount of income coming from the drug flow than in my opinion the order in which the countries stand from greatest GDP to lowest would change.
i think that GDP should be measured in smaller areas. countries are too broad and it doesnt give us an exact measure. each house hold, business, whatever it may be spends more or less on everything including groceries, bills whatever it may be. so i think it should be measured in smaller areas, and more of an accurate number would come out of it.
Like discussed in class GDP is the value of final goods and services produced domestically in one year. and i think its pretty sufficient because it keeps every country balance with there goods and services. as well it is important because it is measured by todays dollars which tells you its going by the income of now which helps estimates on what needs progression. i also believe by improving GDP can bring some happiness in a sense that we can benefit from these changes.
A better measure for our economy would be genuine progress indicator (GPI). GPI is an attempt to measure whether a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of well-being of the people in the country. By measuring well-being you will have a better idea of how the countries growth affects it people. With GDP you may have a small number of people holding most of the assists. With GPI you can have a better understanding of how people are doing as a whole
GDP has been used to measure our economy as an economic indicator which is representative in the world. However, it has some limitations. For example, we can only know the goods and services which were made a deal legally by GDP. In my opinion, therefore, the better measure is to estimate each household income per year in a country. It would be helpful for us to know and manage each household finances. Furthermore, we can measure our economic development when every estimated household income is added.
I believe that a better way to measure the economy other than GDP is Aannual income or Household income. I think it is important to focus on the money that is being earned by Aamericans all over. The hard earned money we are makin is being spent on gas, clothes, food, shelter or whatever else individuals chose to purchase. Regardless, Pepole are earning money and putting it right back into the country.
The way we discover how our nation is doing is by GDP and how we are doing in with the population in our states. GDP is the value of final goods and services produced domestically in one year. The way we figure out how to economy is doing is due to the two methods. Another way we can measure GDP is by state. Then we can see how each state is doing with the amount of population that is currently there. This would only be helpful to our economy and see how different states are doing. Each State would know how their GDP is doing instead of the United States as a whole. Instead of being view as a whole we can also see how each county is doing if you wanted to go into that detail. I think figuring out GDP with Each state is the only way we can have a better measure of how our economy is doing.
I think that real GDP is a good measure of how the economy is doing and the productivity of that country. Higher numbers usually indicate a wealthier nation but this statistic is far from perfect when looking at cases such as India. India has the 4th highest GDP in the world, but most of the people in this country live in extreme poverty. Examining GDP per capita gives a better indication of the standard of living of the people in a particular country. For example, as stated, India had the 4th highest GDP in the world but when you look at its per capita GDP, India drops to 163 in our class discussion. This indicates that the people of India live with a lot less than would have been expected if GDP was examined alone. Again GDP per capita isn’t flawless, because like GDP, these statistics don’t measure the distribution of income. I think it would be a good idea to look at both GDP and GDP per capita but also take into consideration the yearly income of all working people, the percentage of unemployment, pollution in the area, and the volunteer work that the people might be involved in. I think all of these options together would be a better indication of the standard of living than just looking at GDP alone.
I think measuring average income and spending of citizens in the country is a good alternative for measuring how our economy is doing. Although, I don't think it is impossible to do without drastic changes in technology and the way multiple countries are ran. If a certain level of technology is achieved where we can track a persons income regularly and how much and on what they spend it on it can continuously track how well our economy is doing throughout the year.
Nowadays, there is a limit for measuring economic level by using GDP. This is because GDP is usually focused on measurement for economic activity. In my opinion, well-being is a better measure for level of economy. This is because the more people pay attention to well-being that pursues happiness. I think matter of well-being is for countries which have stable economic. In this sense, measuring well-being can be a perfect measure as a better measure for economy.
either i think using the measurement of the average household spending is better than measuring GDP. GDP cannot show the real condition of each country. on the other hand, measuring average household spending can show citizen's economic and financing condition through a family's spending such as how much, how to, and why spend. this measurement will be an indicator of each country's realistic economic and financing condirion.
Have you guys ever seen the movie 21? Well it seems to me that economics is like Blackjack, you can't bring your emotions into it other wise things get messed up. Just focus on the numbers and counting the cards not the amount of money you need to catch up on. That's how I feel of GDP. I think it measures our economy decently well but (not saying I'm heartless) people always want to measure the amount of happiness. Yes, economics understands that but as they said before it's just numbers, so why are people getting so nitpicky about it? Anyway, if I had to choose another means of measuring the economy, I would choose the Genuine Process Indicator, which is "an attempt to measure whether a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the welfare (or well-being) of the people in the country. GPI advocates claim that it can more reliably measure economic progress, as it distinguishes between worthwhile growth and uneconomic growth." I think this can most efficiently replace GDP because it caters to everyone's needs. We have the original production of goods but we also get the consideration of people's well-being. It also includes additional costs such as cost of resource depletion, cost of crime, cost of ozone depletion, etc. So everyone's happy.
Another good way to determine the economic growth rather then GDP would probably be the income of the household and their spending. Since we calculate the amount that the pop in a country nearly/have to spends. It would make more sense if it actually have real numbers with people real income of each household. And maybe the GDP per capita would be more accurate. However I still think that GDP is still a good method because it give us just the estimate of the stuff we produced and the pop of our country since we produced those things and use the sources that we have it would make sense that it's a good measure of the economic growth rate.
I think Professor Harris makes a great point. I believe a more adequate measure of our economy would be to measure it by happiness. You know our economy is bad when people are losing jobs and going into debt. If our economy improved and more jobs were available, then there would be more happiness. A better economy equals a happy economy!
i heard about several different methods from GDP.I think net economic welfare method is better than GDP. This method implies GNP, leisure, value of underground economy, and minus such as environmental problems. I think it is more better way. However, it has some problems. How can we measure leisure value and environmental value? If we measure those ones, this method will more use than GDP.
i believe a better way of measuring the economy would be measure each individual household income because nobody has the same income. so even the average measurement through GDP is probably way off. and then we will also have to measure other things that effect the economy, then when we do that we will find the real level of the economy
A good idea in figuring out the measure of the economy would be the average of ones household income. This would give a broad view of both how much each household receives and spends. it would also show which areas have more income than others and will then show the true measure of the economy in a precise way.
Am not sure what to think, if you look at the definition of GDP it states: goods and services produced within a country in a year. To me this seems if we don't produce products then our economy is bad, yet it doesn't measure how much income people make. I agree that figuring out what people’s income is that it might be a better way to figure what GDP is.
The problem with measuring the income of households is that not everybody works legally and it is so easy for people to make mistakes or lie about their income. I hate to say it but not everyone is a good person. Measuring GDP by household income leads itself to a number of problems due to the fact that it can't be fully regulated and therefore is unreliable.
In my opinion we could possibily try to measure our supply rate to other countries, because we would then be led to the number of jobs producing the supplies needed. Measuring the different jobs we have could possibly be a different alternative to GDP but it is still related to the concept of it, because we would be measuring our production rate. I may be wrong or my idea may be off but thats my opinion.
I think that the current measurement of GDP is good but we also have to take into account the income each household has. That way we know how much people spend.
I think measuring the average income of each household is a better way of measuring the economy because not everyone has the same income and you can figure out how much each household spends on consumer goods and even capital goods if they decide to use a product from their household to help with a business, like what Jill said in one of our class sessions. Having capital goods in a household could help boost up the income. So finding the average income of each household would help track how much people receive and have more accuracy on how much they spend.
I think that the current GDP is fine. Many students also agreed at the fact that the average income of each household should be added to determining GDP. I also agree with that. Being able to track the average income of househoulds or a general area will help. However, there needs to be a way to get a more fairly accurate reading, such as through taxes.
I think that GDP is a one of indicators that show the development of countries economy. If a country produces more final goods and services, GDP will go up. Also, we think that if GDP is going up, the standard of living will be increased because more final goods and services will be benefit to more people in a country. I agree that GDP has a relevant with standard of living. But the point is that the standard of living is not just decided from a production of goods and services. While we are living, even though we don’t have enough goods, our standard of living can be increased from the fresh air, social connection between people, happiness and so on. Actually, I agree that it is hard to count all of those stuffs into GDP because we can’t measure the happiness. But, if we try to make reasonable standard for environment, happiness and so on, the GDP will represent more actual standard of living.
I think that the current GDP is going ok at the moment. But one can look at that GDP does not cover everything in daily life. GDP contains goods and services that do not increase a country’s economic wealth but furthermore, it excludes goods and services that do.
It does forget things such as household production, voluntering work and public administraton.
When measuring Gross Domestic Product, one might question how effective it is. GDP is meant to calculate the market value of all goods and services produced in an economy. I think a adequate way to measure the economy is to upgrade GDP with not just market value of all goods and services produced in an economy, but also the wellbeing of the citizens. In a study done in Times Magazine it was shown that in the last five years though the economy has gone up the citizens are not any happier and their health has only slightly improved. We need a system that can also measure the wellness of the community, because if the citizens are satisfied they will want to be a bigger part of society.
In my opinion, what matters more than GDP would be overall well being, which doesn't come from money necessarily. But since there is no real way to measure happiness I would have to agree that the logical way would be to measure household incomes. Essentially a more detailed and accurate version of GDP per capita. It would represent a more accurate picture of that countries situation. Plus you could compare averages to see the bigger picture. Plus you could see what would be necessary to live in those countries. Like we discussed in class there is a difference in the value of money in certain countries and this would show that.
Measuring the economy with GDP does have its advantages and in a way it does make sence, but I also believe that in order to measure the economy we would also have to include the income and the speding of households in average, that way we can have a better sense of how the economy is doing from the households point of view, how much they are earning and how much they are spending at a certain period of time.
I think a more adequate way of measuring the economy would be to find out the average income in each household. Although, in order for this to be accurate, it is important to break the country up into regions. Obviously some areas will have a higher average household income compared to others, but it would give an idea of how well a country is doing economically.
I think that we have a good GDP but the problem is that were facing that not every body work legaly, like they work under the tabel. a batter way to figer thise problem is to go throgh evryones taxes and see how much they make. but we also have to take into the account that the income each household has, because what ever the houshold make but it back into the economey by buying stuff like food, cars, cloths, etc..
i believe another way to measure how our economy is doing is to find out how much people are really making in this country. Maybe there could be a way from out income tax, and wages in W-2 could give us a more accurate estimate on how the economy is doing. by doing this we can see how much people are really making in the U.S.
I think that if we want to find adequate measure of the economy, we should measure the average household income because everyone spends on money differently and cannot get a same average income. GDP is also useful way to measure the economy, but if we use the method of household income, we can know about gross domestic product, also government can control or manage each household income easily. That’s why I think measuring average household income is better than GDP.
I believe that a GDP is already a good way to measure the economy, but to get not just the GDP but also what consumers and households spend to help measure the economy by what is produced and also by how much is spent.
I see a lot of good ideas. I am not an economist so I do not know of a better way to measure of the economy. Though I did come across a comment left by Octavio Reyes in which he stated we should do GDP by state in order to see what each state contributes to the union, I like this idea the best. In addition to that thought I think it is important that we are able to measure the countries poverty... because if it is said that the top 5% own 90% of the wealth, GDP means nothing to the diminishing middle class, and the poor.
I think a better measure of the economic would be Average household income in today’s social. Average household income is a politically sensitive indicator; I think it is better than GDP to measure economy, because like the U.S, the GDP per capital increased so fast, but the median household income increased so slowly. And GDP just can show the general economy in a country, but average household income can show the people’s financing condition. A family spends money not just on side; they spend money on miscellaneous things, then average household income is an accurate measure point of how much will putting back into the economy. But I also believed that if we improving the GDP， it will bring some happiness and health, after all, GDP is an important tool of measure ecnonmy.
I think GDP is a very good barometer for economies but what it does not do is show the overall "wellbeing" of a nation. Many of the countries which have high GDP have been poor for so long they are litterally catching up to much of the world. They lack things like proper health care, water and shelter. When per capita is taken into consideration, it gives a much more adequate gauge of overall wealth.
I think the GDP is too complicated for most people to understand. The average person bases their understanding of the economy on unemployment. This is a more personal measurement because if they are employed along with the people they know they are happy with the economy. If the unemployment rate goes up people begin to feel anxious.
I think an adequate way of measuring the U.S economy is by the household income such as, disability payments, child supports payments,uempoyment insurance, and the population basically the question to ask is who owns a house here in America. The majority of Americans dont own a house, when we talk about the working class and even low income class thats the majority. I think we should measure the real issues and maybe economist can find ways to increase our economy to improve more faster such as China is doing right now.
I have been researching alternatie ways of GDP and I have found Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare which factors in both pollution and income distrubution and Genuine Process Indicator which tries to determine if economic growth has improved a country's welfare. According to the New York Times
GDP can measure value of all final goods and services within a country in one year. Then, we need to focus 'final goods'. That means we cannot measure intermediary processing or benefit exactly. Also, environmental problems become main issues in society. In case of environment, we destroy nature for our benefit and we try to save it again. Moreover, these costs are reflected in GDP together, so we need to adopt 'Green GDP' as soon as possible. It can measure envioronmental process too. Another way is Gross household income can be a good scale for measuring GDP.
GDP is inaccurate measurement because it can be easily inflated by importing cheap foreign labors and working more hours. I think growth per capita real GDP is better way of measuing economic growth. It averages amount of GDP per each person and shows accurate result of how GDP changes among average household.
GDP seems like such an impersonal number to judge the well being of an entire nation. I like real GDP per capita as a gauge of an economies relative health, but I feel they should always include some measurement that also reflects income disparity. I'm more interested in understanding the difference in population between those considered "well-off", and those who aren't, based on Global standards.
I think that the better way of measuring economy is by household income. Because we do not know that what every house's use their income to. So what if we know about using income of household, we can know what situation going on the life of nations. So every company or government can make more stuff which for nation, and make a law for protect consumers from company. So I think that if we measure economy be household, it is better way to measuring the economy.
I believe the best way to measure the health of the economy is to take the average household income and subtract the average household spending, this will show how many people are saving some of their income and will show how many are spending more than they take in and going into debt. -Bryce Kerns
I believe that GDP is a smart way to calculate the economy. I think we should stick with using the GDP but add more to it. Start including more factors like unemployment rates, the average overall contentment of the citizens and the accurate spread of the wealth of the country. It should ask more direct questions like "How common is it for a citizen to be well off?" .
Some good ways to measure the economy would be unemployment rates, national debt, trade balances, and rates of inflation. I believe that unemployment has set our economy back so far that measuring how many people are out of jobs would be a more accurate measure than GDP. We should focus on market mechanisms to focus on the labor market to resolve unemployment.
I believe that GDP is adequate but another way if measuring economy in my opinion would be by getting the average if the biggest amount of consumptions and income. I believe that getting the average income of each household by the state and think this would give us a more detailed way of finding GDP. -pokey milian
I don’t think that there would be a better measure of the economy other than GDP. As discussed in class, GDP is an imperfect statistic. Even if we measured our economy differently there would be problems with that statistic as well. Though if I had to pick another way to measure the economy I would say measuring people’s spending through a census every year so everyone can be accounted for.
I think another way to measure economic growth would be to take a look at some of the things that GDP does NOT factor in when determining economic growth. Things such as: health, infant mortality, suicide rates, crime, poverty, cost of commuting to work and school, are just a few examples that GDP does not measure. These examples show that just because GDP may increase over a years amount of time, it does not necessarily mean that our country's well-being increases along with it. That is why I believe that using GDP to measure economic growth may give false interpretations to a country's well-being.
I think GDP as a mean to measure our economy is an excellent economic indicator. Even though it does not necessarily reflect each area’s economic influence, it’s still a good indicator. I think it’s a good reflection of the prosperity of a country. Because our country is shifting more towards an importing economy we have a lower GDP in comparison to other countries, but I believe that it’s accurate.
I think that a better measure for GDP would be making an average per house because it's the only way you will get the right information you need to determine the country's GDP. I think its a better measure because other wise, some people will not pay attention to their progress and finances unless they have to turn in the data to the government. Some people may be spending too much on something they don't need and they might not even realize it.
I think a better way to calculate an ecomony is measuring the population of the social classes. If you have a bigger population in the lower class then we know we arent doing so well. There should be a balance to it all. Like in 2008 a lot of homeowners went bankrupt and lost their jobs. That means the lower class got more populated. However now that we trying to recover more money is going into peoples bank accounts. Just because there is a lot of money flowing around the country doesn't mean the citizens are doing well. -Alexandria Guerra
I feel that GDP is a overall good measure of the economy, but if we could have a much more detailed measure I would agree with some of my classmates and say that a yearly census should be used to have a clearer break down. For instance, I think that it might be a good idea if, not only those that live in a household be accounted for, but their ages and in some instances their incomes be noted. We could line thsese numbers side by side with our economic status. This though, would be a micro source similar to per capita and not a macro measure. Also, I believe people would not like giving the government yet even more information on the census. Once again, I feel that GDP does a good job in what it was set out to accomplish, measure economic status.
I don't think there is a better way to measure the economy. GDP is overall the beat way to see how a country is doing. It's the best way to see what a country has produced and what it's worth.
Like many others have commented, I believe it would be more efficient to measure on what our GDP consist of mainly and that would be the income and spending of our consumers. It would be more efficient to get a more accurate number for our country's income because all those who have a job are earning wages in which they are going to be spending that earned amount of money on supporting there families or selves with bills they have to pay and consumer items that hold such a need in everyday life.
i think its good as it is but of course i don't think there is anything that is better than what we have now. some things cant be calculated but a general idea like GDP is good enough.
It seems to calculate every single item as mentioned in the text, "crack" for instance is excessive unless legalized and turned to commodity. Yes there are legal goods produced we have no idea for the market value. The federal government is obviously not perfect and foul able and as soon as they design a system we deem as ok, I'm sure there will still be outcry...
I think the better measure of the economy should be average household income. Because GDP is too large number to every person and too difficult to understand. Average household income is related to everyone's life. Expect for average household income, I think the the employment rate,price of commodities and so on.
I think that GDP is a good way to measure a countries economy. Another way that I think that you could measure an economy is by getting the average income and spending of every houshold. This way you can get an idea of how the economy is, but im not sure if it will be a better measure.
I think GDP is a good measure for the United States. I mean it might not be the most accurate but it is the closes than any other measure. I also agree that GDP can be better measured if we use family household. The truth is that GDP is measured through the equation of consumption plus investment plus government purchases plus exports minus imports. What can be better, nothing really. As an accounting major GDP is the best method to use for the United States. Why? Because it measure our revenue and expenses and also our investment and production and to have an accurate number of your GDP you need all these factors.
I believe that GDP is a perfectly adequate way to measure and get a general idea of where a country's economy stands. But the next best alternative would be measuring individual cities. I know most students mentioned individual families and homes but that might just be too specific and a lot of information in the end, haha. By measuring cities, we can get numbers based off demographic, income levels, and even ethnicities. With that, we can get a better understanding of what people buy and spend money on.
Gross Domestic Product, although not perfect, is a decent way to measure a country's economic status as is. The amount of products and services a country provides, though, doesn't exactly correspond to the population's level of happiness. In terms of measuring the economy of a country, the distribution of wealth is rarely ever equal in regards to geography. Certain cities will attract more profit and production. Focus should be placed on the income and spending of the population and its government, rather than happiness, since satisfaction and life span expectancy are also based on things other than money (such as living quality, environment safety, social status and health choices).
i really don't think there id anything better than what we have now. the way we calculate GDP is not super accurate but its enough of the concept down to understand how to react to certain situations we face in our economy.
GDP isn't always a good indicator for the economy because it omits unpaid work that might benefit our society like raising children.I believe we should focus on household income and wealth rather than Gross domestic production to avoid the misleading information that could be got using GDP as indicator for a healthy economy.
GDP may not be the most accurate way to measure the economy, but I still think it is the best way to do it. Focusing on household income is not an adequate way if measuring the economy due to the disparity of the current class system in America. Also focusing on something such as individual household income still doesn't factor in undocumented wages. Real GDP does help us see inflation factors and growth. Though sometimes the numbers may sometimes be misleading, it is still the best tool we have at the moment to measure economies.
I think that a better way to do it is having a system that factors in Foreclosure, Unemployment,CPI, inflation, and may be the stock market. This should give us a better snap shot of what is going on in the U.S economy. because we are looking at real factors of real live, we the people are the one that buy and spend.
I think GDP is an inadequate measure of the economy because not everything can be recorded, for example, "underground" or "illegal" businesses. However, I'm having a hard time thinking of a better way to measure the countries market value of final goods and services only because it's asking for a number(price) answer. We can always measure it by polling the people about their overall life satisfaction, but that wouldn't really put a price on the market value of a country. From a treehuggers standpoint we can try to calculate GDP based on how does it affect the world in the future, but that wouldn't give an accurate value on the economy today. So for now I think that GDP is close to accurate we can get.
The problem with GDP is that not all businesses are really accounted for considering there is a great chance that there is a lot of illegal business that is going on in the country as well. But the problem with measuring by household income is that not everyone is working legally so there would be numbers missing that way as well. I think GDP is so far the most accurate way of measuring the economic growth.
I feel GDP is almost an inferior way of calculating a nations growth or actual cash flow through out its borders. I feel coorporation profit reports along with all citizens yearly income based of their W2/1099 and an IRS input with all the illegal cash flow domestically. I feel if all cash were accounted for our nations GDP would grow dramatically.
Honestly, it is hard to find another method of how to measure GDP other than measuring the economy of a country since thats the way it has been done for many years. But I believe that one of the other ways to measure GDP is by adding the number of people who get a secondary education (college) and how much is spent by that. The amount in books, rent, gas (if commute) etc. Also another thing would be the average income per household. These two factors or ways can show how else a household is spending money and putting it into the economy itself.
I don't think their is a better method of measuring our economy. The economy and the products being sold have went down because their is a high rate of unemployment but measuring our economy by house hold income wouldn't be helpful. Measuring our economy by house hold income wouldn't be sufficient because their our many household that aren't here legally but they still consume and have an affect on the value of final goods and services being produced. Gdp is the most adequate measurement of economy.
I agree with many of the other students above about the different measurements we could use for GDP. Taking into account the take-home pay (net vs. gross) and who takes home the pay vs. those without income are important factors too. Even though we don't include the income/sales from illegal drug sales, I think we should give an estimated or assumed amount because it's a fact that there is a drug trade in this country. Another thing to consider is the resale of items on marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist.
I don't know of a better way to measure GDP but I also think that we should get the average household income for we can have an idea of how much income each household has to spend.
To me, a better method to measure how well our economy is doing rather than doing GDP would be to measure how much each household (as a whole) makes on their annual income after taxes, that is, depending on the different types of classes (higher, middle and lower classes). Not all households make the same amount of income so it wouldnt be fair to say if our economy is doing well if only the rich are getting richer but the the middle class and lower class are suffering job losses, all just to even out our how well we are doing as one genre. Erik Ramirez
I feel that GDP is an inadequate measure of GDP, so in order to obtain a more adequate and precise measure we could use Household income. Each household makes X amount of money per year, and spends X amount of money on gas, food, clothes, and other necessities. So when we spend money on these items we are putting money right back into our economy, thus making it easy to figure out how much money each household is making and spending per year.
I agree that GDP (gross domestic product) is a good way of measuring the economy, however to make it even more accurate is similar to what other students think. I agree that a more percise amount of how much each household spends and makes as a whole should also be calculated into it.
I believe that measuring GDP is a difficult task in relation to articulate the growth of the economy. It is obviously a effective and reliable source in measuring the economy , but there should be a measure of household income , used item sale , comfort of living . What the GDP does not measure is the gap between the rich and poor . There are many resources that are not encounter for but the measuremen of the GDP is a accurate reliable source . Manuel Marroquin
I believe that the best way to measure GDP is by the through household income. Because everyone lives differently then I believe there are many different ways that people spend money some earn more money because they may have no children versus the people that have children make less because they have to care after thier children or any person dependent on them. In other words people with a family spend more than the ones with no family.-Judite Zamorano
I think that a Great way to measure besides the gdp would be a combination of two things. Number one would be household income, and number two would be average debt per household. Maybe unemployment can come in somewhere as well. Gdp is a great measurement ,but I believe other factors should come into account in larger countries and diverse countries.
I think GDP is the best method that we have at the moment. Even though it isn't accurate like mentioned before it does gives us significant numbers. Although, we can incorporate this as a way of measuring the economy, like Maya mentioned, a good measurement would be average household income and debt per household because this can give us a more detailed information/ analysis that can be based on regions, countries, etc.
My first thought after reading the question was “happiness,” yet most answers were based on money and income. Given this, I thought it would sound kind of corny or was not a good idea of my part to look at this question on these terms. However, since Professor gave these considerations, I believe that the best way to measure an economy is to take into account things like overall happiness, divorce rates, suicide rates, crime, health, and life expectancy (among other factors). These aspects will definitely give a better picture of the quality of life for a given region.
Another way to measure the economy would involve calculating each household’s possible investments and excess cash on hand. Homes that cultivate a solid savings account and/or alternative forms of income through outside investments, represent people that are more likely to be better educated, and plan for the future. A household doesn’t necessarily have to be very wealthy to have excess funds, but if they are well educated and able to strategically plan their spending and saving strategies, then that alone represents their ability to hold a better standard of living.
I think that a way to get a better idea of a real measurement is if we break the averages that we get from our current GDP into different categories. By keeping in mind the huge discrepancy in the amount of income earned then we can get better ideas of how much each household actually has. By doing this the average person will have a better idea to be judged on. Its also a more true fact on the average income of an American.
Honestly I think GDP is a good way to measure the growth of an economy it's not exactly accurrate but it gives us a pretty good picture of how much we have grown in a year. It incorporates everything needed to measure growth how much we consume, bussiness, government spending, and imports & exports. If I had to pick another way to measure growth it would be by the average of each household because as our average goes up so does our growth. Also it is a little easier to measure.
GDP is a great way to measure our economy i font think there any other way to measure it if so i would love to know ... As far as I'm concern GDP incorporates everything needed to determine what we do yearly :)
I think per capita GDP is a lot more effective than just plain GDP in analyzing the economy. Instead of showing what the whole economy is producing as a whole, which could be numbers based on skewed social classes, it relates it to the size of the population and gives an approximate average.
A good idea for economical measures would have to be a way of keeping track on how much everyone's outcome and income are because that would determinate money spending. Although that is a good idea I do not think that it would work because people wouldn't want to go through that process every year and it would be a hassle trying to do that with technology. asyia romain
I think that the current measurement of GDP is good but we have to take into account the income of each household and what products they are actually spending their money on.
I think a better system than GDP would be taking a survey of each households income yearly, If done correctly it would show kind of a demonstration of which households have a higher income in what regions and vice versa. From this we can accurately see what each household consumes as opposed to the entire nation since everyone is different.
i believe finding the average households income would help find a more accurate production rate. To go more in depth they should also compare states to each other as well as different regions within the states. This will also help show the areas that need finanical support.
I believe that The current measurement of GDP used to be affective. but as of today it is not. So many households are without real jobs. and so we have to find out, now, what the household average income is.
I think the GPD is an overall good approach at measuring, but it's very broad. If we found a more detailed way then it would benefit us, but that would take too much time and effort.
I think a better approach than GDP would be GPI, genuine progress indicator. The GPI calculates more along the lines of well being. It measures if the Country's growth and production has resulted in a better off well being of the Country. I believe this is better because GDP calculates the gross domestic product, which does include some things that can make a Country worse off, such as after a war because it makes room for rebuilding the city.
I think researching and comparing real income and real market prices can make sure what's going on real economy. Of course, GDP and GDI and ets... are important to make and know economic status in theory. However, we live in real life and we need real data to make real policy that we really need.
well the reason gdp is used. is becasue it fits well in all countries, i can think of better methods for individual countries to use per say, but it would not compare accuratlly to other countries. so lets see................hmmm..... ok in america maybe, using everyones tax papers like their 1040 forms or something, but then again not everyone does their taxes.. i dont know this one is hard lol
I dont believe GDP is a good way to measure a countries economy. I measures all final goods sold in a country. What about all the goods that are sitting on shelves waiting to be sold?
I believe a better way would be to measure average family income. That shows how much an average US citizen makes (and contributes to the country)
A better way of measuring GDP would be to break it down to geographic areas like regions or states. Obviously some states have a far larger economy than others.
After doing a quick search on Google, I found out about the proposal of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, which factors in both pollution and income distribution. This is a decent measure, because pollution is something that should be considered in regards to production of goods and distribution of wealth because if a city becomes overwhelmed with factory waste, the factory might not be as successful and no one will want to live there anymore. This places overall wealth and profit from the city in danger. Though it may not be completely better than GDP, it is an important factor to consider.
One method that might create a more adequate system of measuring Gross Domestic Product could start out by adding all the W2 forms given out before tax season, as a result you could figure out a possible and maybe more acquit measurement of GDP.
ReplyDeleteI believe we should start measuring the consumer sending in the average American household. Most of the average American spend money they dont have on miscellaneous products,they want the a name brand purse or shoes and they spend their rent or car payment on it. I think if you show the average American what they spend on miscellaneous objects, we as Americans will start cutting back on spending and start making sure our bills are paid for. They will start realizing they are hurting the economy and what to make a different.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a better measure of the economy would be average household income. Because consumers spend the money they make on food, gas, clothes, etc. They are putting the money back into the economy. So the average household income would show how much they are able to spend on consumer goods.
ReplyDelete- Emily Aragon
i feel that a better measure of the economy would be the average income of each household. a family spends money on not only bills like gas and electricity but also miscellaneous things as well.it can show how much money the household is putting back into the economy.
ReplyDeleteEven though GDP does not give us the exact measurement of how well the economy and the people are doing, it has some shortcuts advantages of giving the readers a quick glance of HOW the economy of one country is doing in general. If I have to propose another measurement for measuring the well-being of an economy, I would say that the measure of employment rate is the best candidate. There is a strong and positive correlation between the employment rate and the economic growth of an economy. An economy is strengthened when there are more jobs and opportunities created for the people and vice versa when the unemployment rate goes up. By measuring the employment rate of a country, one could, possibly and hopefully, determine and estimate the well-being of that country's economy.
ReplyDeleteBinh Pham.
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ReplyDeleteWe are all so accustomed to relying on GDP when measuring the economy of a country. It is hard to think of a more adequate way of measuring it but if I had to think of one it would be the percentage of people in a country that completed a post secondary education. It is pretty obvious that people who complete a post secondary education earn higher wages, which tends to lead to a higher consumption rate. Not only does it lead to higher consumption rates but it is also results in advancement in technology, overall good decision making, and a general higher living standard which all contribute to a better economy. Since a general higher education leads to so many benefits I think it is an adequate way to measure the economy of a country.
ReplyDeleteKenny Tavoc
Another way of measuring GDP would be to break it down to geographic areas like regions or states. This way of measurement seems to be a healthier way to me because it would show how much a state brings to the table and show the living standards in that state.
ReplyDeleteThere are alot of measurements any person can think of that will be alot better than the GDP measurement we use today. For example, how much a family spends year round on necessities, or how about, how much a household spends on emergency bills, or debt(cause by unnecessary things). I agree with the measurement of the average household spends on necessities should be taken in consideration. Alot of individuals don't take in consideration of unexpected circumstances that may occur. For example a flood, or an earthquake, individuals have to repair the damages and there's alot of money spend to fix those problems cause by disastrous events. So the money they spend goes back into the economy and are actually creating more jobs for other individuals. Which is better for the economy. Debt is also another good measurement because Americans tend to spend money on things they don't need and most Americans are materialistic so they end up creating debt even at a young age.So i believe these three measurements would make the GDP measurement better.
ReplyDeleteWell lets see? GDP, I used to think a nice census but time and practice shows it does not work because society refuses to subject themselves to it. I only state this because in a Utopian society we could evaluate the state of the nation as a whole. Not just millionaires, billionaires, poor, midway what ever, but how well is the country doing as a state, as in a state of the Nations true well being?
ReplyDeleteISmael Navarro
one possible better way for measurement but not necessarily better for one's comfort is to have everyone on a card use pay method only basis. The government might input a chip in people's ATM cards and credit cards which will send an electronic signal on how much and on what people are spending their money on.
ReplyDeleteGDP is a useful measure in many ways. It is a pretty universal measurement and can give a general idea of a nation's productivity easily comparable to other nations. There could be a better measure, however. For example, calculating a nation's per capita GDP can give an idea of the available wealth. A country could have a relatively small GDP but a small population giving it a high GDP per capita. I think the best measure is really dependent upon what you are looking to study and what discipline you come from. No one figure can accurately describe all of the elements that can be studied.
ReplyDeleteI think a good way to determine how well a country is doing is by figuring out the overall spending of each household or city. That way you could see how each city is doing and how that city might effect the whole country. It woud show how much people or the city are actually spending.
ReplyDeleteA better system than GDP in my opinion, would be asking for each households income in a census done every year along with their taxes, then this income will be rounded off and placed into regions to demonstate which ones are high and lows. So on this will be done every year to see where it's improving and where it's decreasing.
ReplyDeletei think that in order to gain a better view of how our economy is doing we need to obtain an average household income on a yearly basis. Average income is a good starting point for an estimate of how much money is put back into our economy. Most of our income goes towards payments of bills such as gas, electric, and house payments.
ReplyDeleteStan Hunsucker
I actually think that GDP is an adequate measure of the economy, but there are also other options. Another measure of the ecomony could be calculating the total income made per family including the number of people who live in the house. Also, measuring the amount of money that is spend and including the area in which they live in. It all depends if there middle class or high class.
ReplyDeleteA good idea in figuring out the an adequate measure of economy would be the average household income. This would give a broad view of how much each household spends.
ReplyDeleteJust throwing it out for consideration: does anyone think an improved measure of progress would include some estimate of "happiness" or "health" or "longevity"? Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI Think that as GDP gets devided per capita it gets distorted through the extreme values. If rather than taking the amount divided by the ppl as you would with GDP you took all household imcomes and then took the mode or median of that number it would be a more accurate dipiction of the economy.
ReplyDelete-amy
I agree and believe that the GDP is an inadequate measurement just for the fact that was brought up in class about the illegal trafficing. Countries know or have at least an estimate on how much income comes into their country from drugs. If there could be a way to measure the best estimated amount of income coming from the drug flow than in my opinion the order in which the countries stand from greatest GDP to lowest would change.
ReplyDeletei think that GDP should be measured in smaller areas. countries are too broad and it doesnt give us an exact measure. each house hold, business, whatever it may be spends more or less on everything including groceries, bills whatever it may be. so i think it should be measured in smaller areas, and more of an accurate number would come out of it.
ReplyDeleteLike discussed in class GDP is the value of final goods and services produced domestically in one year. and i think its pretty sufficient because it keeps every country balance with there goods and services. as well it is important because it is measured by todays dollars which tells you its going by the income of now which helps estimates on what needs progression. i also believe by improving GDP can bring some happiness in a sense that we can benefit from these changes.
ReplyDeleteA better measure for our economy would be genuine progress indicator (GPI). GPI is an attempt to measure whether a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of well-being of the people in the country. By measuring well-being you will have a better idea of how the countries growth affects it people. With GDP you may have a small number of people holding most of the assists. With GPI you can have a better understanding of how people are doing as a whole
ReplyDeleteGDP has been used to measure our economy as an economic indicator which is representative in the world. However, it has some limitations. For example, we can only know the goods and services which were made a deal legally by GDP. In my opinion, therefore, the better measure is to estimate each household income per year in a country. It would be helpful for us to know and manage each household finances. Furthermore, we can measure our economic development when every estimated household income is added.
ReplyDeleteSang-Ah Kim
I believe that a better way to measure the economy other than GDP is Aannual income or Household income. I think it is important to focus on the money that is being earned by Aamericans all over. The hard earned money we are makin is being spent on gas, clothes, food, shelter or whatever else individuals chose to purchase. Regardless, Pepole are earning money and putting it right back into the country.
ReplyDelete-lauren castro
The way we discover how our nation is doing is by GDP and how we are doing in with the population in our states. GDP is the value of final goods and services produced domestically in one year. The way we figure out how to economy is doing is due to the two methods. Another way we can measure GDP is by state. Then we can see how each state is doing with the amount of population that is currently there. This would only be helpful to our economy and see how different states are doing. Each State would know how their GDP is doing instead of the United States as a whole. Instead of being view as a whole we can also see how each county is doing if you wanted to go into that detail. I think figuring out GDP with Each state is the only way we can have a better measure of how our economy is doing.
ReplyDelete-Kenny Pigman
I think that real GDP is a good measure of how the economy is doing and the productivity of that country. Higher numbers usually indicate a wealthier nation but this statistic is far from perfect when looking at cases such as India. India has the 4th highest GDP in the world, but most of the people in this country live in extreme poverty. Examining GDP per capita gives a better indication of the standard of living of the people in a particular country. For example, as stated, India had the 4th highest GDP in the world but when you look at its per capita GDP, India drops to 163 in our class discussion. This indicates that the people of India live with a lot less than would have been expected if GDP was examined alone. Again GDP per capita isn’t flawless, because like GDP, these statistics don’t measure the distribution of income. I think it would be a good idea to look at both GDP and GDP per capita but also take into consideration the yearly income of all working people, the percentage of unemployment, pollution in the area, and the volunteer work that the people might be involved in. I think all of these options together would be a better indication of the standard of living than just looking at GDP alone.
ReplyDeleteMallery Wassink
I think measuring average income and spending of citizens in the country is a good alternative for measuring how our economy is doing. Although, I don't think it is impossible to do without drastic changes in technology and the way multiple countries are ran. If a certain level of technology is achieved where we can track a persons income regularly and how much and on what they spend it on it can continuously track how well our economy is doing throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, there is a limit for measuring economic level by using GDP. This is because GDP is usually focused on measurement for economic activity. In my opinion, well-being is a better measure for level of economy. This is because the more people pay attention to well-being that pursues happiness. I think matter of well-being is for countries which have stable economic. In this sense, measuring well-being can be a perfect measure as a better measure for economy.
ReplyDeleteSora Ko
either i think using the measurement of the average household spending is better than measuring GDP. GDP cannot show the real condition of each country. on the other hand, measuring average household spending can show citizen's economic and financing condition through a family's spending such as how much, how to, and why spend. this measurement will be an indicator of each country's realistic economic and financing condirion.
ReplyDeleteHave you guys ever seen the movie 21? Well it seems to me that economics is like Blackjack, you can't bring your emotions into it other wise things get messed up. Just focus on the numbers and counting the cards not the amount of money you need to catch up on. That's how I feel of GDP. I think it measures our economy decently well but (not saying I'm heartless) people always want to measure the amount of happiness. Yes, economics understands that but as they said before it's just numbers, so why are people getting so nitpicky about it? Anyway, if I had to choose another means of measuring the economy, I would choose the Genuine Process Indicator, which is "an attempt to measure whether a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the welfare (or well-being) of the people in the country. GPI advocates claim that it can more reliably measure economic progress, as it distinguishes between worthwhile growth and uneconomic growth." I think this can most efficiently replace GDP because it caters to everyone's needs. We have the original production of goods but we also get the consideration of people's well-being. It also includes additional costs such as cost of resource depletion, cost of crime, cost of ozone depletion, etc. So everyone's happy.
ReplyDeleteAnother good way to determine the economic growth rather then GDP would probably be the income of the household and their spending. Since we calculate the amount that the pop in a country nearly/have to spends. It would make more sense if it actually have real numbers with people real income of each household. And maybe the GDP per capita would be more accurate. However I still think that GDP is still a good method because it give us just the estimate of the stuff we produced and the pop of our country since we produced those things and use the sources that we have it would make sense that it's a good measure of the economic growth rate.
ReplyDeleteI think Professor Harris makes a great point. I believe a more adequate measure of our economy would be to measure it by happiness. You know our economy is bad when people are losing jobs and going into debt. If our economy improved and more jobs were available, then there would be more happiness. A better economy equals a happy economy!
ReplyDelete-Ashley Rice
i heard about several different methods from GDP.I think net economic welfare method is better than GDP. This method implies GNP, leisure, value of underground economy, and minus such as environmental problems. I think it is more better way. However, it has some problems. How can we measure leisure value and environmental value? If we measure those ones, this method will more use than GDP.
ReplyDeletei believe a better way of measuring the economy would be measure each individual household income because nobody has the same income. so even the average measurement through GDP is probably way off. and then we will also have to measure other things that effect the economy, then when we do that we will find the real level of the economy
ReplyDelete-german coreas
A good idea in figuring out the measure of the economy would be the average of ones household income. This would give a broad view of both how much each household receives and spends. it would also show which areas have more income than others and will then show the true measure of the economy in a precise way.
ReplyDeleteJoshua Tabera
Am not sure what to think, if you look at the definition of GDP it states: goods and services produced within a country in a year. To me this seems if we don't produce products then our economy is bad, yet it doesn't measure how much income people make. I agree that figuring out what people’s income is that it might be a better way to figure what GDP is.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with measuring the income of households is that not everybody works legally and it is so easy for people to make mistakes or lie about their income. I hate to say it but not everyone is a good person. Measuring GDP by household income leads itself to a number of problems due to the fact that it can't be fully regulated and therefore is unreliable.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we could possibily try to measure our supply rate to other countries, because we would then be led to the number of jobs producing the supplies needed. Measuring the different jobs we have could possibly be a different alternative to GDP but it is still related to the concept of it, because we would be measuring our production rate. I may be wrong or my idea may be off but thats my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think that the current measurement of GDP is good but we also have to take into account the income each household has. That way we know how much people spend.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think measuring the average income of each household is a better way of measuring the economy because not everyone has the same income and you can figure out how much each household spends on consumer goods and even capital goods if they decide to use a product from their household to help with a business, like what Jill said in one of our class sessions. Having capital goods in a household could help boost up the income. So finding the average income of each household would help track how much people receive and have more accuracy on how much they spend.
ReplyDelete- Ashley Ignacio
I think that the current GDP is fine. Many students also agreed at the fact that the average income of each household should be added to determining GDP. I also agree with that. Being able to track the average income of househoulds or a general area will help. However, there needs to be a way to get a more fairly accurate reading, such as through taxes.
ReplyDeleteI think that GDP is a one of indicators that show the development of countries economy. If a country produces more final goods and services, GDP will go up. Also, we think that if GDP is going up, the standard of living will be increased because more final goods and services will be benefit to more people in a country. I agree that GDP has a relevant with standard of living. But the point is that the standard of living is not just decided from a production of goods and services. While we are living, even though we don’t have enough goods, our standard of living can be increased from the fresh air, social connection between people, happiness and so on. Actually, I agree that it is hard to count all of those stuffs into GDP because we can’t measure the happiness. But, if we try to make reasonable standard for environment, happiness and so on, the GDP will represent more actual standard of living.
ReplyDeleteMinju Kim
I think that the current GDP is going ok at the moment. But one can look at that GDP does not cover everything in daily life. GDP contains goods and services that do not increase a country’s economic wealth but furthermore, it excludes goods and services that do.
ReplyDeleteIt does forget things such as household production, voluntering work and public administraton.
Josh Pond
When measuring Gross Domestic Product, one might question how effective it is. GDP is meant to calculate the market value of all goods and services produced in an economy. I think a adequate way to measure the economy is to upgrade GDP with not just market value of all goods and services produced in an economy, but also the wellbeing of the citizens. In a study done in Times Magazine it was shown that in the last five years though the economy has gone up the citizens are not any happier and their health has only slightly improved. We need a system that can also measure the wellness of the community, because if the citizens are satisfied they will want to be a bigger part of society.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, what matters more than GDP would be overall well being, which doesn't come from money necessarily. But since there is no real way to measure happiness I would have to agree that the logical way would be to measure household incomes. Essentially a more detailed and accurate version of GDP per capita. It would represent a more accurate picture of that countries situation. Plus you could compare averages to see the bigger picture. Plus you could see what would be necessary to live in those countries. Like we discussed in class there is a difference in the value of money in certain countries and this would show that.
ReplyDeletei think the average income of households should be added to the current GDP to get a more accurate measure --Oakford Gross
ReplyDeleteMeasuring the economy with GDP does have its advantages and in a way it does make sence, but I also believe that in order to measure the economy we would also have to include the income and the speding of households in average, that way we can have a better sense of how the economy is doing from the households point of view, how much they are earning and how much they are spending at a certain period of time.
ReplyDeleteI think a more adequate way of measuring the economy would be to find out the average income in each household. Although, in order for this to be accurate, it is important to break the country up into regions. Obviously some areas will have a higher average household income compared to others, but it would give an idea of how well a country is doing economically.
ReplyDelete-Justin Balancio
I think that we have a good GDP but the problem is that were facing that not every body work legaly, like they work under the tabel. a batter way to figer thise problem is to go throgh evryones taxes and see how much they make. but we also have to take into the account that the income each household has, because what ever the houshold make but it back into the economey by buying stuff like food, cars, cloths, etc..
ReplyDeletei believe another way to measure how our economy is doing is to find out how much people are really making in this country. Maybe there could be a way from out income tax, and wages in W-2 could give us a more accurate estimate on how the economy is doing. by doing this we can see how much people are really making in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteJackie cabrera
I think that if we want to find adequate measure of the economy, we should measure the average household income because everyone spends on money differently and cannot get a same average income. GDP is also useful way to measure the economy, but if we use the method of household income, we can know about gross domestic product, also government can control or manage each household income easily. That’s why I think measuring average household income is better than GDP.
ReplyDeleteMyung-Rae Kim
I believe that a GDP is already a good way to measure the economy, but to get not just the GDP but also what consumers and households spend to help measure the economy by what is produced and also by how much is spent.
ReplyDeleteAdan Garibay
I see a lot of good ideas. I am not an economist so I do not know of a better way to measure of the economy. Though I did come across a comment left by Octavio Reyes in which he stated we should do GDP by state in order to see what each state contributes to the union, I like this idea the best. In addition to that thought I think it is important that we are able to measure the countries poverty... because if it is said that the top 5% own 90% of the wealth, GDP means nothing to the diminishing middle class, and the poor.
ReplyDeleteI think a better measure of the economic would be Average household income in today’s social. Average household income is a politically sensitive indicator; I think it is better than GDP to measure economy, because like the U.S, the GDP per capital increased so fast, but the median household income increased so slowly. And GDP just can show the general economy in a country, but average household income can show the people’s financing condition. A family spends money not just on side; they spend money on miscellaneous things, then average household income is an accurate measure point of how much will putting back into the economy. But I also believed that if we improving the GDP， it will bring some happiness and health, after all, GDP is an important tool of measure ecnonmy.
ReplyDeleteSihong Fang
I think GDP is a very good barometer for economies but what it does not do is show the overall "wellbeing" of a nation. Many of the countries which have high GDP have been poor for so long they are litterally catching up to much of the world. They lack things like proper health care, water and shelter. When per capita is taken into consideration, it gives a much more adequate gauge of overall wealth.
ReplyDeleteI think the GDP is too complicated for most people to understand. The average person bases their understanding of the economy on unemployment. This is a more personal measurement because if they are employed along with the people they know they are happy with the economy. If the unemployment rate goes up people begin to feel anxious.
ReplyDeleteI think an adequate way of measuring the U.S economy is by the household income such as, disability payments, child supports payments,uempoyment insurance, and the population basically the question to ask is who owns a house here in America. The majority of Americans dont own a house, when we talk about the working class and even low income class thats the majority. I think we should measure the real issues and maybe economist can find ways to increase our economy to improve more faster such as China is doing right now.
ReplyDeleteI have been researching alternatie ways of GDP and I have found Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare which factors in both pollution and income distrubution and Genuine Process Indicator which tries to determine if economic growth has improved a country's welfare.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the New York Times
GDP can measure value of all final goods and services within a country in one year. Then, we need to focus 'final goods'. That means we cannot measure intermediary processing or benefit exactly. Also, environmental problems become main issues in society.
ReplyDeleteIn case of environment, we destroy nature for our benefit and we try to save it again. Moreover, these costs are reflected in GDP together, so we need to adopt 'Green GDP' as soon as possible. It can measure envioronmental process too.
Another way is Gross household income can be a good scale for measuring GDP.
It is a good way to measure but you have to take into account how much people spend per household.
ReplyDeleteGDP is inaccurate measurement because it can be easily inflated by importing cheap foreign labors and working more hours. I think growth per capita real GDP is better way of measuing economic growth. It averages amount of GDP per each person and shows accurate result of how GDP changes among average household.
ReplyDeleteGDP seems like such an impersonal number to judge the well being of an entire nation. I like real GDP per capita as a gauge of an economies relative health, but I feel they should always include some measurement that also reflects income disparity. I'm more interested in understanding the difference in population between those considered "well-off", and those who aren't, based on Global standards.
ReplyDeleteI think that the better way of measuring economy is by household income. Because we do not know that what every house's use their income to. So what if we know about using income of household, we can know what situation going on the life of nations. So every company or government can make more stuff which for nation, and make a law for protect consumers from company. So I think that if we measure economy be household, it is better way to measuring the economy.
ReplyDeleteI believe the best way to measure the health of the economy is to take the average household income and subtract the average household spending, this will show how many people are saving some of their income and will show how many are spending more than they take in and going into debt.
ReplyDelete-Bryce Kerns
I believe that GDP is a smart way to calculate the economy. I think we should stick with using the GDP but add more to it. Start including more factors like unemployment rates, the average overall contentment of the citizens and the accurate spread of the wealth of the country. It should ask more direct questions like "How common is it for a citizen to be well off?" .
ReplyDeleteSome good ways to measure the economy would be unemployment rates, national debt, trade balances, and rates of inflation. I believe that unemployment has set our economy back so far that measuring how many people are out of jobs would be a more accurate measure than GDP. We should focus on market mechanisms to focus on the labor market to resolve unemployment.
ReplyDeleteI believe that GDP is adequate but another way if measuring economy in my opinion would be by getting the average if the biggest amount of consumptions and income. I believe that getting the average income of each household by the state and think this would give us a more detailed way of finding GDP. -pokey milian
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that there would be a better measure of the economy other than GDP. As discussed in class, GDP is an imperfect statistic. Even if we measured our economy differently there would be problems with that statistic as well. Though if I had to pick another way to measure the economy I would say measuring people’s spending through a census every year so everyone can be accounted for.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Navar
I think another way to measure economic growth would be to take a look at some of the things that GDP does NOT factor in when determining economic growth. Things such as: health, infant mortality, suicide rates, crime, poverty, cost of commuting to work and school, are just a few examples that GDP does not measure. These examples show that just because GDP may increase over a years amount of time, it does not necessarily mean that our country's well-being increases along with it. That is why I believe that using GDP to measure economic growth may give false interpretations to a country's well-being.
ReplyDeleteI think GDP as a mean to measure our economy is an excellent economic indicator. Even though it does not necessarily reflect each area’s economic influence, it’s still a good indicator. I think it’s a good reflection of the prosperity of a country. Because our country is shifting more towards an importing economy we have a lower GDP in comparison to other countries, but I believe that it’s accurate.
ReplyDeleteI think that a better measure for GDP would be making an average per house because it's the only way you will get the right information you need to determine the country's GDP. I think its a better measure because other wise, some people will not pay attention to their progress and finances unless they have to turn in the data to the government. Some people may be spending too much on something they don't need and they might not even realize it.
ReplyDelete-Areli Torres
I think a better way to calculate an ecomony is measuring the population of the social classes. If you have a bigger population in the lower class then we know we arent doing so well. There should be a balance to it all. Like in 2008 a lot of homeowners went bankrupt and lost their jobs. That means the lower class got more populated. However now that we trying to recover more money is going into peoples bank accounts. Just because there is a lot of money flowing around the country doesn't mean the citizens are doing well.
ReplyDelete-Alexandria Guerra
I feel that GDP is a overall good measure of the economy, but if we could have a much more detailed measure I would agree with some of my classmates and say that a yearly census should be used to have a clearer break down. For instance, I think that it might be a good idea if, not only those that live in a household be accounted for, but their ages and in some instances their incomes be noted. We could line thsese numbers side by side with our economic status. This though, would be a micro source similar to per capita and not a macro measure. Also, I believe people would not like giving the government yet even more information on the census. Once again, I feel that GDP does a good job in what it was set out to accomplish, measure economic status.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is a better way to measure the economy. GDP is overall the beat way to see how a country is doing. It's the best way to see what a country has produced and what it's worth.
ReplyDeleteLike many others have commented, I believe it would be more efficient to measure on what our GDP consist of mainly and that would be the income and spending of our consumers. It would be more efficient to get a more accurate number for our country's income because all those who have a job are earning wages in which they are going to be spending that earned amount of money on supporting there families or selves with bills they have to pay and consumer items that hold such a need in everyday life.
ReplyDeletei think its good as it is but of course i don't think there is anything that is better than what we have now. some things cant be calculated but a general idea like GDP is good enough.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to calculate every single item as mentioned in the text, "crack" for instance is excessive unless legalized and turned to commodity. Yes there are legal goods produced we have no idea for the market value. The federal government is obviously not perfect and foul able and as soon as they design a system we deem as ok, I'm sure there will still be outcry...
ReplyDeleteIsmael Navarro
I think the better measure of the economy should be average household income. Because GDP is too large number to every person and too difficult to understand. Average household income is related to everyone's life. Expect for average household income, I think the the employment rate,price of commodities and so on.
ReplyDeleteI think that GDP is a good way to measure a countries economy. Another way that I think that you could measure an economy is by getting the average income and spending of every houshold. This way you can get an idea of how the economy is, but im not sure if it will be a better measure.
ReplyDeleteI think GDP is a good measure for the United States. I mean it might not be the most accurate but it is the closes than any other measure. I also agree that GDP can be better measured if we use family household. The truth is that GDP is measured through the equation of consumption plus investment plus government purchases plus exports minus imports. What can be better, nothing really. As an accounting major GDP is the best method to use for the United States. Why? Because it measure our revenue and expenses and also our investment and production and to have an accurate number of your GDP you need all these factors.
ReplyDeleteBy:
Priscilla Leon
I believe that GDP is a perfectly adequate way to measure and get a general idea of where a country's economy stands. But the next best alternative would be measuring individual cities. I know most students mentioned individual families and homes but that might just be too specific and a lot of information in the end, haha. By measuring cities, we can get numbers based off demographic, income levels, and even ethnicities. With that, we can get a better understanding of what people buy and spend money on.
ReplyDelete-Nicolette Afable
Gross Domestic Product, although not perfect, is a decent way to measure a country's economic status as is. The amount of products and services a country provides, though, doesn't exactly correspond to the population's level of happiness. In terms of measuring the economy of a country, the distribution of wealth is rarely ever equal in regards to geography. Certain cities will attract more profit and production. Focus should be placed on the income and spending of the population and its government, rather than happiness, since satisfaction and life span expectancy are also based on things other than money (such as living quality, environment safety, social status and health choices).
ReplyDeletei really don't think there id anything better than what we have now. the way we calculate GDP is not super accurate but its enough of the concept down to understand how to react to certain situations we face in our economy.
ReplyDeleteGDP isn't always a good indicator for the economy because it omits unpaid work that might benefit our society like raising children.I believe we should focus on household income and wealth rather than Gross domestic production to avoid the misleading information that could be got using GDP as indicator for a healthy economy.
ReplyDeleteGDP may not be the most accurate way to measure the economy, but I still think it is the best way to do it. Focusing on household income is not an adequate way if measuring the economy due to the disparity of the current class system in America. Also focusing on something such as individual household income still doesn't factor in undocumented wages. Real GDP does help us see inflation factors and growth. Though sometimes the numbers may sometimes be misleading, it is still the best tool we have at the moment to measure economies.
ReplyDeleteI think that a better way to do it is having a system that factors in Foreclosure, Unemployment,CPI, inflation, and may be the stock market. This should give us a better snap shot of what is going on in the U.S economy. because we are looking at real factors of real live, we the people are the one that buy and spend.
ReplyDeleteI think GDP is an inadequate measure of the economy because not everything can be recorded, for example, "underground" or "illegal" businesses. However, I'm having a hard time thinking of a better way to measure the countries market value of final goods and services only because it's asking for a number(price) answer. We can always measure it by polling the people about their overall life satisfaction, but that wouldn't really put a price on the market value of a country. From a treehuggers standpoint we can try to calculate GDP based on how does it affect the world in the future, but that wouldn't give an accurate value on the economy today. So for now I think that GDP is close to accurate we can get.
ReplyDelete-Remy Belarde
The problem with GDP is that not all businesses are really accounted for considering there is a great chance that there is a lot of illegal business that is going on in the country as well. But the problem with measuring by household income is that not everyone is working legally so there would be numbers missing that way as well. I think GDP is so far the most accurate way of measuring the economic growth.
ReplyDeleteI feel GDP is almost an inferior way of calculating a nations growth or actual cash flow through out its borders. I feel coorporation profit reports along with all citizens yearly income based of their W2/1099 and an IRS input with all the illegal cash flow domestically. I feel if all cash were accounted for our nations GDP would grow dramatically.
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ReplyDeleteHonestly, it is hard to find another method of how to measure GDP other than measuring the economy of a country since thats the way it has been done for many years. But I believe that one of the other ways to measure GDP is by adding the number of people who get a secondary education (college) and how much is spent by that. The amount in books, rent, gas (if commute) etc. Also another thing would be the average income per household. These two factors or ways can show how else a household is spending money and putting it into the economy itself.
ReplyDeleteI don't think their is a better method of measuring our economy. The economy and the products being sold have went down because their is a high rate of unemployment but measuring our economy by house hold income wouldn't be helpful. Measuring our economy by house hold income wouldn't be sufficient because their our many household that aren't here legally but they still consume and have an affect on the value of final goods and services being produced. Gdp is the most adequate measurement of economy.
ReplyDelete-Giselle Rodriguez
I agree with many of the other students above about the different measurements we could use for GDP. Taking into account the take-home pay (net vs. gross) and who takes home the pay vs. those without income are important factors too. Even though we don't include the income/sales from illegal drug sales, I think we should give an estimated or assumed amount because it's a fact that there is a drug trade in this country. Another thing to consider is the resale of items on marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist.
ReplyDelete-Solinda Ly
I don't know of a better way to measure GDP but I also think that we should get the average household income for we can have an idea of how much income each household has to spend.
ReplyDeleteTo me, a better method to measure how well our economy is doing rather than doing GDP would be to measure how much each household (as a whole) makes on their annual income after taxes, that is, depending on the different types of classes (higher, middle and lower classes). Not all households make the same amount of income so it wouldnt be fair to say if our economy is doing well if only the rich are getting richer but the the middle class and lower class are suffering job losses, all just to even out our how well we are doing as one genre.
ReplyDeleteErik Ramirez
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ReplyDeleteI feel that GDP is an inadequate measure of GDP, so in order to obtain a more adequate and precise measure we could use Household income. Each household makes X amount of money per year, and spends X amount of money on gas, food, clothes, and other necessities. So when we spend money on these items we are putting money right back into our economy, thus making it easy to figure out how much money each household is making and spending per year.
ReplyDeleteI agree that GDP (gross domestic product) is a good way of measuring the economy, however to make it even more accurate is similar to what other students think. I agree that a more percise amount of how much each household spends and makes as a whole should also be calculated into it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that measuring GDP is a difficult task in relation to articulate the growth of the economy. It is obviously a effective and reliable source in measuring the economy , but there should be a measure of household income , used item sale , comfort of living . What the GDP does not measure is the gap between the rich and poor . There are many resources that are not encounter for but the measuremen of the GDP is a accurate reliable source .
ReplyDeleteManuel Marroquin
003717102
I believe that the best way to measure GDP is by the through household income. Because everyone lives differently then I believe there are many different ways that people spend money some earn more money because they may have no children versus the people that have children make less because they have to care after thier children or any person dependent on them. In other words people with a family spend more than the ones with no family.-Judite Zamorano
ReplyDeleteI think that a Great way to measure besides the gdp would be a combination of two things. Number one would be household income, and number two would be average debt per household. Maybe unemployment can come in somewhere as well. Gdp is a great measurement ,but I believe other factors should come into account in larger countries and diverse countries.
ReplyDeleteMAYA DARBY
I think GDP is the best method that we have at the moment. Even though it isn't accurate like mentioned before it does gives us significant numbers. Although, we can incorporate this as a way of measuring the economy, like Maya mentioned, a good measurement would be average household income and debt per household because this can give us a more detailed information/ analysis that can be based on regions, countries, etc.
ReplyDelete-Moises Lizama
My first thought after reading the question was “happiness,” yet most answers were based on money and income. Given this, I thought it would sound kind of corny or was not a good idea of my part to look at this question on these terms. However, since Professor gave these considerations, I believe that the best way to measure an economy is to take into account things like overall happiness, divorce rates, suicide rates, crime, health, and life expectancy (among other factors). These aspects will definitely give a better picture of the quality of life for a given region.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to measure the economy would involve calculating each household’s possible investments and excess cash on hand. Homes that cultivate a solid savings account and/or alternative forms of income through outside investments, represent people that are more likely to be better educated, and plan for the future. A household doesn’t necessarily have to be very wealthy to have excess funds, but if they are well educated and able to strategically plan their spending and saving strategies, then that alone represents their ability to hold a better standard of living.
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ReplyDeleteI think that a way to get a better idea of a real measurement is if we break the averages that we get from our current GDP into different categories. By keeping in mind the huge discrepancy in the amount of income earned then we can get better ideas of how much each household actually has. By doing this the average person will have a better idea to be judged on. Its also a more true fact on the average income of an American.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I think GDP is a good way to measure the growth of an economy it's not exactly accurrate but it gives us a pretty good picture of how much we have grown in a year. It incorporates everything needed to measure growth how much we consume, bussiness, government spending, and imports & exports. If I had to pick another way to measure growth it would be by the average of each household because as our average goes up so does our growth. Also it is a little easier to measure.
ReplyDeleteGDP is a great way to measure our economy i font think there any other way to measure it if so i would love to know ... As far as I'm concern GDP incorporates everything needed to determine what we do yearly :)
ReplyDeleteI think per capita GDP is a lot more effective than just plain GDP in analyzing the economy. Instead of showing what the whole economy is producing as a whole, which could be numbers based on skewed social classes, it relates it to the size of the population and gives an approximate average.
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ReplyDeleteA good idea for economical measures would have to be a way of keeping track on how much everyone's outcome and income are because that would determinate money spending. Although that is a good idea I do not think that it would work because people wouldn't want to go through that process every year and it would be a hassle trying to do that with technology.
ReplyDeleteasyia romain
I think that the current measurement of GDP is good but we have to take into account the income of each household and what products they are actually spending their money on.
ReplyDeleteI think a better system than GDP would be taking a survey of each households income yearly, If done correctly it would show kind of a demonstration of which households have a higher income in what regions and vice versa. From this we can accurately see what each household consumes as opposed to the entire nation since everyone is different.
ReplyDeletei believe finding the average households income would help find a more accurate production rate. To go more in depth they should also compare states to each other as well as different regions within the states. This will also help show the areas that need finanical support.
ReplyDeleteI believe that The current measurement of GDP used to be affective. but as of today it is not. So many households are without real jobs. and so we have to find out, now, what the household average income is.
ReplyDeleteI think the GPD is an overall good approach at measuring, but it's very broad. If we found a more detailed way then it would benefit us, but that would take too much time and effort.
ReplyDeleteI think a better approach than GDP would be GPI, genuine progress indicator. The GPI calculates more along the lines of well being. It measures if the Country's growth and production has resulted in a better off well being of the Country. I believe this is better because GDP calculates the gross domestic product, which does include some things that can make a Country worse off, such as after a war because it makes room for rebuilding the city.
ReplyDeleteI think researching and comparing real income and real market prices can make sure what's going on real economy. Of course, GDP and GDI and ets... are important to make and know economic status in theory. However, we live in real life and we need real data to make real policy that we really need.
ReplyDeletewell the reason gdp is used. is becasue it fits well in all countries, i can think of better methods for individual countries to use per say, but it would not compare accuratlly to other countries. so lets see................hmmm..... ok in america maybe, using everyones tax papers like their 1040 forms or something, but then again not everyone does their taxes.. i dont know this one is hard lol
ReplyDeleteI dont believe GDP is a good way to measure a countries economy. I measures all final goods sold in a country. What about all the goods that are sitting on shelves waiting to be sold?
ReplyDeleteI believe a better way would be to measure average family income. That shows how much an average US citizen makes (and contributes to the country)
A better way of measuring GDP would be to break it down to geographic areas like regions or states. Obviously some states have a far larger economy than others.
After doing a quick search on Google, I found out about the proposal of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, which factors in both pollution and income distribution. This is a decent measure, because pollution is something that should be considered in regards to production of goods and distribution of wealth because if a city becomes overwhelmed with factory waste, the factory might not be as successful and no one will want to live there anymore. This places overall wealth and profit from the city in danger. Though it may not be completely better than GDP, it is an important factor to consider.
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