week 6 econ

"Is the GDP Still Accurate in the Digital Age?"

What the GDP measures, if anything, has become quite the issue in the digital age. Consider this data:

In 2012, U.S. Real GDP was $15,345.63 billion and Real Per Capita GDP was $48,842 billion. 

Five years later, at the end of 2017, U.S. Real GDP was $17,096.18 billion and Real Per Capita GDP was $52,446 billion. (All data was extracted May 20, 2018, from FRED https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)

Read this blog, GDP: Falling Short, to help you answer this week’s discussion questions. https://blogs.imf.org/2017/12/22/gdp-falling-short/ 

Reply to these questions in your response:

• Considering the data above, did the U.S. make progress? Explain your answer.
• Given what you know now about economics, should the measure of GDP be changed? Why or why not?