GDP as a Measure of Economic Growth and Welfare : Brief Critical Assessment

The purpose of our paper is to briefly assess the role of GDP in measuring growth and welfare or in getting insight into the state of an economy. In this view, we propose a synthetic theoretical and historical review of national accounting, emphasizing the most important ideological underpinnings and theoretical suppositions of GDP for gauging economic growth and welfare. The paper includes: (a) a short historical review of national accounting; (b) a very brief reminder of the methods of measuring GDP; (c) an assessment of GDP's ideological underpinnings; (d) shortcomings and limitations of GDP in measuring growth and welfare