'Beyond GDP' Requires Replacement, Not Just Additional Metrics
Van den Bergh, Jeroen (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2026
Abstract:	Political decision-making remains dominated by GDP, often at the expense of social and environmental concerns. Indicator dashboards have so far had limited impact on core policy decisions in this regard. This article argues that only replacing GDP with a comprehensive aggregate metric can overcome its dominance. To illustrate which alternative is most likely to succeed, the concept of "perception distance" (or similarity) to GDP is introduced, formalized and compared across key options. Furthermore, it is argued that replacing GDP with a superior aggregate metric will enhance the effectiveness of the additive approach as the new headline metric reduces tension with disaggregate domain indicators for wellbeing, inequality and sustainability.
Grants:	European Commission 101097924
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Growth ; Equity ; Environment ; Sustainability ; ISEW ; GPI
Published in:	Social indicators research, Vol. 182, Num. 2 (March 2026) , art. 35, ISSN 1573-0921

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-026-03837-5
PMID: 41924171

8 p, 623.8 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Environmental and Climate Economics (ECE)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles