Although GDP is widely used as a measure of the value of a country's production and income, some economists argue that it is not a good measure of the progress countries make in raising the standard of living of their citizens. In 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the United Kingdom's plans to construct a measure of well-being that would account for such factors as citizens' satisfaction with their lives. France also announced an effort to construct an alternative to GDP as a measure of well-being. But measuring "well-being" is more difficult than measuring the market value of output. "There is more to life than GDP, but it will be hard to come up with a single measure to replace it..." commented Paul Allin, the director of the United Kingdom's Measuring National Well-Being Project. Economists have long struggled to find an alternative to GDP as a welfare index. Among the earliest attempts was the "Measure of Economic Welfare (MEW)," by William Nordhaus and James Tobin in 1972. The MEW differs from GDP primarily in three ways. First, MEW subtracts estimates of the effect of "bads," such as pollution, from GDP. Second, MEW excludes certain services, such as police protection, because increases in these services may reflect more crime and civil disorder, which would mean lower welfare. Third, it adds an estimate of some activities, such as housework and leisure, that result in greater welfare but are not included in GDP. One critic of GDP wrote that the recession of 2007-2009 ". . . offers an excellent opportunity to get rid of [an economic concept] that has long outlived its usefulness: gross domestic product. . . . It ought to join buggy whips and VCRs on the dust-heap of history." Sources: Market Whitehouse, "Nations Seek Success Beyond GDP," Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2011. William Nordhaus and James Tobin, "Is Growth Obsolete?" Economic Growth, Fiftieth Anniversary Colloquium, Vol. 5. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1972; and Eric Zencey, New York Times, August 10, 2009. You are required to answer the following questions: a. Do economists overstate the value of GDP as a measure of economic welfare? (8 marks) b. Should GDP be replaced as a measure of growth in the overall economy? (7 marks)