GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History Hardcover – February 23, 2014

Must read book for economists, people who work in finance, and pretty much everyone who cares about GDP

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P. Kim

January 31, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I bought this book after listening to Diane Coyle speak at Econtalk, my favorite econ podcast.

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/04/diane_coyle_on.html

The book is very insightful as it describes the history of GDP and its shortcomings. I did not know that GDP was so arbitrary and incomplete.

It is scary that governments, financial sectors, and even laypeople live and die by GDP despite its serious flaws. GDP is plagued by measurement errors, construct error (measuring the wrong concept), and statistical massaging. GDP has brought great progress to the understanding of production and economics but I believe that the world now should work on developing a better concept than the current GDP. I think economists and statisticians can work on decreasing the measurement error. Other disciplines could focus on what really matters such as quality of life. I know that it is very hard to define quality of life but we have to start somewhere.

Overall, the book is excellent and the author does a great job at explaining GDP and provides an insightful direction for both policy makers and researchers.

2 people found this helpful

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June 17, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I read GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History by Diane Coyle for three reasons: (1) to see if the book can be used as a textbook in a principles of macroeconomics class; (2) of course, to learn more about GDP and economic growth; and (3) to learn writing from an inspiring economics communicator.

Arnold Kling rightly says that economic history can be used to teach macroeconomics more effectively. GDP presents a historical narrative of the evolution of GDP, which started as a result of war, and soon became the main macroeconomic indicator. So, yes, with a few explanations to clarify concepts, one can use the book in an introductory class on macroeconomics.

The Gross Domestic Product has been criticised frequently. Critics argue, among other things, that GDP is not a good measure of social welfare, that it does not include the informal economy, and that it does not deal well with innovation. Those criticisms are justifiable and spot-on, but as Diane Coyle argues, in spite of its many handicaps the GDP is still a useful tool to measure economic performance. From the beginning GDP was not seen as a measure of social welfare, but of income and production. Of course, we need other indicators to measure welfare, but as far as income and production goes, the GDP is still useful. That does not mean that it is perfect, not at all. In fact, it needs serious modifications.

I like Diane's writing style a lot. I follow her blog closely. However, I can not tell exactly what is so attractive about her writing. She explains her ideas and arguments with an almost optimal level of complexity, no more, no less. You can look at the way she describes GNP in the book. She could have given a long explanation but instead she just tells what is sufficient for understanding the main ideas in the book. The most important characteristic, I think, is that she asks big questions. At the end of the book she argues that, under the current digital and online economy, and everything that they imply we need a new definition of "the economy." That is a metaphysical claim of a mainly "physical" social science. So she makes one think big and not many writers can do that.

Of course I am making huge simplifications of sharply elaborated arguments. .

15 people found this helpful

An useful and pleasant reading for a wide audience

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Aurelian Dochia

September 17, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Delivers exactly what the title promises: a presentation of the GDP concept emergence, its implementation heavily influenced by specific political and social conditions, its strengths and weaknesses as measuring tool. Everything is placed in the historical context, the disputes around various compromises are briefly presented and pro and cons arguments for various technical solutions adopted for measuring the economic activity are well balanced against each other. Yes, the GDP is far from being a perfect measure of economic activity and even less so for welfare or happiness. But when one understands its limits and biases, it still is a very useful instrument for the economists, the policy makers and the public at large. Wonderfully written.

One person found this helpful

Good primer on a complex subject

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Zackary D. Barron

March 24, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Short read on the inherent flaws in GDP. Well written, concise. My one complaint is it makes a few too many references to other parts of the book. Otherwise, a good reference for those of us in the financial professions.

One person found this helpful

This book gives a basic background to GDP, discusses its benefits, assumptions,and shortfalls. It also discusses possible alternatives or a dashboard.Read more

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Most recent customer reviews

Ryan Kulavic

A great intro into GDP

Published 5 months ago

M. Heiss

A Keynesian’s arguments about GDP

I’m not a Keynesian. Her book is written through a Keynesian perspective, and therefore it gets wrong the things that Keynes got wrong.Read more

Published 6 months ago

mgs

Good survey of GDP's history and conceptual problems.

Well-written, with many illustrative examples, addressing the question of what we want to measure and why measurement has become more complicated.

Easily read and comprehensive in conveying what GDP really is

Exnyer

Five Stars

If a man marries his housekeeper, how does it change GDP?

Who is this book for? Economic dilettantes, like the current reviewer. We may not be trained in Economics, but we find certain developments interesting enough to read on from time...Read more

A nice book for Economic dilettantes

Who is this book for? Economic dilettantes, like the current reviewer. We may not be trained in Economics, but we find certain developments interesting enough to read on from time...Read more

GDP measurement is art and not science

Who is this book for? Economic dilettantes, like the current reviewer. We may not be trained in Economics, but we find certain developments interesting enough to read on from time...Read more

This book works best for economic dilettantes.

Who is this book for? Economic dilettantes, like the current reviewer. We may not be trained in Economics, but we find certain developments interesting enough to read on from time...Read more

Interesting and Good book

Anon

Interesting book.

Not an "exhaustive" textbook but then again it was not advertised as such.

but I like it real well so far

William

I'm not finished with it yet, but I like it real well so far. I really like the fact that I can go to a lot of the papers and articles that she cite's in her notes page with a...Read more