Economics
The Hunt Is On for a New Way to Measure the World's Economies
- Measurement struggles to keep up with changes in technology
- Widening revisions undermining confidence in its accuracy
Has GDP Become an Irrelevant Economic Metric?
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Gross domestic product is so 20th century.
The measure has risen from humble beginnings during the Great Depression to be an essential gauge for governments and central banks the world over. Long-term investors allocate capital based on its findings; traders buy and sell stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities in the blink of an eye after readings flash on their screens. One such closely-watched report comes this Friday, when the U.S. releases its revised estimate of second-quarter GDP.