Beyond GDP indicators: To what end?

By Lucas Chancel. When a French MP recently decided to draft a law for the adoption of Beyond GDP (BGDP) indicators in France, she was told that such a law wasn’t necessary because BGDP indicators already existed and were published annually in the country. The MP replied that nobody in Parliament or government was aware of it. The reason was simple: the new set of indicators was published in the annex of a very technical administrative report – in a place where nobody would even bother look at them. This example sheds light on an important dimension of the BGDP indicator debate: measuring and publishing indicators is not sufficient, it is essential to reflect on how they can be used practically in policy making processes. More...