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What is GDP? Short videos zoom in on a big statistic

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Michael Andersen
Topics: Imports/Exports
Countries: United States

Like any extremely successful idea, the world's most widely-cited statistic has drawn a lot of critics—starting with its creator and continuing to big thinkers of the moment.

But nobody would dispute that today, gross domestic product (GDP) remains the king of indicators, an all-purpose way of estimating how things are going. And even though GDP can be faulted for assigning zero value to many important tasks—cooking dinner for your family, for example—it's a nuanced piece of social science.

Planet Money, NPR's extraordinarily earnest explanatory economics program, launched a video series at Slate V this week that breaks down the details, advantages and shortcomings of GDP. It's perfect for anyone who wants to know what economists mean when they talk about "growth."

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Keywords: economic indicators, GDP, housing, Planet Money, Slate

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