Intervention de M. Paul Schreyer, Directeur de la Statistique, OCDE

Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission

• Report in 3 parts

• Classical GDP Issues deals with measuring material well-being in a system of national accounts

• Quality of life deals with measuring other dimensions well-being

• By way of introduction, a quick reminder about the nature of GDP

Classical GDP Issues - Material living standards

• One dimension of well-being = material living standards

• Classical GDP Issues in the report of the Commission deals with measuring material well-being in a system of national accounts

• By way of introduction, a quick reminder about the nature of GDP

What GDP is …

• GDP is:

   - A measure of aggregate economic activity
   - Captures market and some non-market activities
   - Measures the supply and demand of final products within ‘production boundaries
   - Directly linked to supply side and jobs
   - And correlated with many aspects of living standards, in particular in comparisons of very different groups of countries

…and what it is not

• GDP is not:

   - A measure of current well-being – too many dimensions of well-being are not captured
   - A direct measure of living standards
   - A measure of sustainability of human activity of any kind

• None of this is new and has long been recognised, first of all by national accountants

So what can be done?

• Make more use of the wealth of existing measures in the national accounts

• De-emphasise the role of the single indicator ‘GDP’

• Supplant core national accounts with satellite accounts

• Here are 5 more specific messages

Paul Schreyer
Poste actuel: Directeur de la Statistique, OCDE

1979 - 1986: PhD en Economie
1986 - 1988: Chercheur à l'Institut de recherche économique Ifo

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