Replacing Gdp by 2030: Towards a Common Language for the Well-Being and Sustainability Community

How did Gross domestic product (GDP) become the world's most influential indicator? Why does it still remain the primary measure of societal progress despite being widely criticised for not considering well-being or sustainability? Why have the many beyond-GDP alternatives not managed to effectively challenge GDP's dominance? The success of GDP and the failure of beyond-GDP lies in their underlying communities. The macro-economic community emerged in the aftermath of the Great Depression and WWII. This community formalised their 'language' in the System of National Accounts (SNA) which provided the global terminology with which to communicate. On the other hand, beyond-GDP is a heterogeneous community which speaks in many dialects, accents and languages. Unless this changes, the 'beyond-GDP cottage industry' will never beat the 'GDP-multinational'. This book proposes a new roadmap to 2030, detailing how to create a multidisciplinary Wellbeing and Sustainability Science (WSS) with a common language, the System of Global and National Accounts (SGNA).

Author: Rutger Hoekstra
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 05/30/2019
Pages: 362
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.00h x 8.30w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781108739870

About the Author
Hoekstra, Rutger: - Rutger Hoekstra has worked on well-being and sustainability from an academic, governmental and business perspective. He has worked with the United Nations, OECD, World Bank, European Commission, European Central Bank and other international organisations. He was the co-chair of the UNECE/OECD/Eurostat Task Force which developed the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations on Measuring Sustainable Development. He has lectured at various universities and published numerous publications on sustainable development, globalisation, circular economy and big data applications. He was also Scientific Director of the KPMG True Value methodology at KPMG Sustainability. Rutger Hoekstra is now the owner of MetricsForTheFuture.com, which provides consultancy services to governments, international institutes and companies on Beyond-GDP and Beyond-Profit.