GDP is the sum of all income earned in a country during a year.Alternatively,it can be thought of as the value of all production in an economy during a year.But do income and production measure happiness? The way we measure GDP can both overstate and understate people's happiness and well-being.It understates economic activity and well-being when it doesn't take into account production that is not exchanged in a market(grandma providing free baby-sitting)and leisure time.It overstates well-being when two otherwise identical activities are measured the same even though one produces more pollution.

• Start your discussion by responding to these questions:
  • Should we continue to measure GDP as we do now?After all, the current way of measurement has been used over time, so we can make historical comparisons.
  • Are there problems with GDP that should be fixed? If you don't think GDP should be changed,explain your reasoning.If you think it should be changed,what changes would you recommend,and why?