A Cross-Country Comparison of Selected Results of an Extended Measurement of Prosperity

"Beyond GDP" is a research agenda that has been evolving in recent years to overcome limitations of the concept of the gross domestic product. Some of the indicators covered by this theme have been neglected for some time and others have been recently developed. The overarching theme is the insight that social progress is measured well enough by the GDP. Additional indicators are necessary to show trade-offs between different objectives of economic development, and economic policy-making needs additional gauges for better decisions. The article focuses on two aspects: The first are standard indicators of the system of national accounts that are worthwhile being presented but are frequently neglected in the standard reporting procedures. The second set of indicators sheds light on the social cohesion of societies. Cross-country and time series data allow a deeper insight into the development of industrialised countries which goes beyond that gained by looking solely at GDP.