The Economist on GDP measurement and progress

Great article: “Measuring economies: The trouble with GDP”. (If it’s behind a paywall, try googling the title.)

Hans-Joachim Voth also discussed this.

I guess in the end, we need a certain fatalism. There are many ways we can try to adapt our estimates, but as Angus Deaton writes, the further two countries are away in time or structure (say Germany vs. Switzerland or Thailand vs. Kenya) the harder it becomes to compare the two in terms of production and prices in any meaningful way. It does not mean that we should stop trying to do better, but some fundamental gaps might simply not be bridged.