Dear editor, There are serious problems with using GDP as a measure of well-being. GDP measures rely upon money, some economies are considerably more monetarised than others. GDPs also tend to measure disasters and other waste as gains in GNP. For instance, the necessity to clear up a major oil spill results in a lot of work, thus increasing GDP, but that work can hardly be expected to improve the quality of life. Likewise, crashing your car gives work to the garage and maybe to the local hospital, again increases in the GDP that you, and your country, could well do without! GNP ignores differences in prices and the distribution of income. It also fails to illuminate how efficiently income is spent. Only by looking at all the various methods, can you obtain a more rounded understanding of trends of advance or well being in society. Even with all these measures, it is important to realise that there are issues of sustainability. Continual rises in the standard of living are not going to be so marvellous if, at the end of the day, we end up destroying our environment and running out of energy! KIMIRONKO
