[P2P-F] Income, GDP Growth and Double Counting

[Tom Walker]

The last time I saw Jonathan Rowe was in October, 2010. I was on a writer's
retreat at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California and Jonathan dropped
by to borrow the pick-up truck. We got into one of those intense
conversations you can only have with someone who has cared and thought long
and deep about the things you have cared and thought long and deep about.

Jonathan died on March 20th of the following year. On a Saturday he came
home from the gym with a fever. The fever got worse so he went the
hospital. Sunday morning he died.

Last week, when I heard that Jonathan's book, *Our Common
Wealth<http://jonathanrowe.org/common-wealth>
*, was out, I ordered a copy right away. Then I searched around on the web
and pinched a galley proof so I wouldn't have to wait for the shipping. I
was especially eager to read Chapter 12, "Accounting for Common Wealth" and
Chapter 17, "Reallocating Time."

Back in 1995 Jonathan was one of the co-authors of an *Atlantic Monthly*
 article, "If the GDP is up, Why is America
Down,"<http://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/ecbig/gdp.htm> a
great riff on the title of Richard Fariña's novel, *Been Down So Long, It
Looks Like Up To Me*. I don't usually hoard old magazines – in fact, I
rarely even buy magazines. But I still have that October 1995 issue of the *
Atlantic*.

Jonathan's article explained a lot of what's wrong with the economy and
what's wrong with economics: "Once you start asking 'what' as well as 'how
much' -- that is, about quality instead of just quantity -- the premise of
the national accounts as an indicator of progress begins to disintegrate,
and along with it much of the conventional economic reasoning on which
those accounts are based."

Read more...
http://econospeak.blogspot.ca/2013/03/income-growth-and-double-counting.html#more
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