Week 3 | Can you think of any limitations of GDP / GNI? Is it an ideal measure of social development? | Lee Jaeseong


A map of world economies by size of GDP (nominal) in USD, World Bank, 2014


Q. Can you think of any limitations of GDP / GNI? Is it an ideal measure of social development?

The biggest problem with GDP is that it doesn't show up for "what it produces." Tax havens such as oil-producing countries, for example, have high GDP. It also does not reflect the issue of distribution of wealth.

The downside is that GNI is greatly influenced by foreign exchange rates. A fall in the exchange rate will increase goods and services to be purchased from abroad, even though there is not much difference in actual purchasing power.

However, these two are quite helpful in judging social development. Many advanced countries have high levels of the above. Of course, there are countries that don't, so you should use them well.

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