Agreed. I would like to invite Jurriaan Bendien -- when he is finished shouting down Left anti-growth straw men -- to refute the specific critiques of national accounting conventions (not "growth") raised by such notorious "Leftists" as Roefie Hueting, Simon Kuznets and of course that crypto-Marxian, Irving Fisher (see Rob Bryer's discussion of "Fisher's mission"). That should be really a bit simple given Jurriaan's unrivaled mastery of the field of national statistics.
On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Shane Mage <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mar 20, 2013, at 2:12 PM, Jurriaan Bendien wrote: > > > Today’s Left is anti-growth, but I am pro-growth. The Left is against > measurement of economic growth, I am for measurement of economic growth. So > really I don’t have much in common with the Left anymore in that regard. I > am a bit oldfashioned I guess. I believe that if you want to distribute > goods, you have to produce them first, and you have to earn what you > consume. > > > If you want to "measure economic growth" you first have to define growth. > GDP is in no way a measure of growth because it is a GROSS measure that > includes elements that constitute *negative* growth like depreciation of > useful objects and emergency repair of catastrophic damages (oil spills, > hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.) Growth can only be measured on a NET basis, > and that means accounting for the change in the stock of preconditions for > economic production--which includes not only, not even mainly, the stock of > productive assets ("physical capital"). What is crucial is the > environmental and resource base. Consumption of any resource (soil, water, > minerals) is negative growth that is to be deducted from measured physical > output. And environmental damage (the CO2 buildup, for instance) of all > sorts is likewise, perhaps even to a much greater greater extent, negative > growth. Official National Accounts statistics purporting to measure net > output exclude all these crucial factors (except the trivial case of > claimed depreciation of privately-owned capital assets) and so are > completely useless as measures of economic growth. What they measure is > economic activity, much of which is either useless or destructive. > > The left is pro-growth--it just conceives growth accurately, in direct > contrast to official standards. > > > > > Shane Mage > > "All things are an equal exchange for fire and fire for all things, > as goods are for gold and gold for goods." > > Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr, 90 > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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