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GNP: The Modern Golden Calf
Author(s) -
Vandermark Elzo
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1972.tb00478.x
Subject(s) - productivity , economics , welfare , order (exchange) , project commissioning , product (mathematics) , standard of living , gross domestic product , publishing , natural resource economics , economy , economic growth , market economy , law , political science , mathematics , finance , geometry
Gross National Product (GNP) is generally considered to be a measure of living standards. It is maintained in this paper that such a profound misunderstanding of a technical economic concept, which in fact measures productivity and not welfare, is leading to an uncritical pursuit of rising industrial output. It is now recognized that the ‘second‐order consequences’ of industrial output may lead to global environmental pollution, of which thermal pollution may be the most ominous. It is concluded, that, for the sake of posterity, we need a rapid transition from a ‘cowboy economy’ to a ‘spaceman economy’.