When somebody delivers to me a box of oranges and I pay for it, they are more expensive than in a shop because there is value added in this person’s delivery effort. If my partner brings me that same box of oranges and doesn’t charge me, there is no value added, although the activity is essentially the same. By the same token, if I eat food in a restaurant, I pay for the cook (among other expenses), whereas if my mother does it at home, her cooking effort comes free of charge. So the cook adds value whereas my mother doesn’t. If I take care of my own kids at home, I am an inactive housewife, according to the labour statistics, but if I cater to other people’s children for a wage, while I pay someone else to cater to mine, we make the economy grow. Does this mean that in order for an economy to grow, we need to uproot personal attachments? The less inclined to do favours and the more inclined to charge people for anything that we do for them, the more our economy will grow? The more detached we are from our keen and friends, the better it is for economic growth? Do capitalist accounting standards essentially promote emotional detachment or am I missing something here?
1 comment:
There are many problems with GDP as a measure of economic activity or well being. What you said, and much more, in this report:
http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf
(don't have to read the whole report, the executive summary will suffice)
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