GDP is an outdated way of measuring the health of the economy – it doesn’t reflect the health of people or the planet

By Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University

Economics and economic policy need a rethink. This is clear from the scale of inequality, joblessness, insecurity and environmental disasters we see in the world.

People feel left behind, impoverished and unvoiced. They are looking to ethno-nationalist strongmen to help them. Right-wing movements and governments are on the rise.

As an economist who has written for many decades about debunking the neoclassical approaches to economic thinking, I think there is clear evidence that the mainstream ideas and policies no longer work.

The dominant approaches to economic…

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