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The Growth Delusion
- Why Economists Are Getting It Wrong and What We Can Do About It
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
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The Growth Delusion
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Summary
A revelatory and entertaining book about the pitfalls of how we measure our economy and how to correct them, by an award-winning editor of The Financial Times.
According to GDP, the economy is in a golden era: economic growth has risen steadily over the past 70 years and shows no sign of stopping. But if this is the case, why are we living in such fractured times, with global populism on the rise and wealth inequality as stark as ever?
In this book, author and prize-winning journalist David Pilling demystifies gross domestic product, a tool that measures the goods and services a country produces in a set period. Revered by economists, GDP is considered evidence of a country's success and well-being. Yet GDP is actually, at best, a numbers game, unequipped to deal with the nuances of the digital economy and developing nations. It also lacks moral judgment: such is the drive for growth that heroin consumption is valued more than volunteer work. By fixating on GDP, experts are ignoring alternative models that better reflect reality and ushering in policies that could even harm us.
In characteristically clear and lively prose, Pilling draws on a quarter century of reporting to argue that our steadfast loyalty to GDP is informing misguided policies - and contributing to a growing mistrust of experts that is shaking the foundations of our democracy. We live in a society in which a priesthood of economists, wielding impenetrable mathematical formulas, sets the framework for public debate. Ultimately, it is economists who set the agenda for how much we can spend on our schools, highways, and defence; who decide how much unemployment is acceptable and whether it is right to print money or bail out profligate banks. The backlash we are currently witnessing suggests that people are turning against the economists and their faulty representation of our lives.
Despite decades of steady economic growth, many citizens feel more pessimistic than ever and are voting for candidates who voice undisguised contempt for the technocratic elite. For too long economics has relied on a language which fails to resonate with people's lived experience, and we are now living with the consequences.
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What listeners say about The Growth Delusion
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-06-21
Great book, bad David Attenborough impression
Wore me down every time the narrator quotes it's like he's doing a bad job of impersonating David Attenborough. Would recommend reading this one.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- ayman
- 04-11-18
Eye opening
A very interesting well written way to show the short fall and limited GDP as tool
I have red the same idea in other books and lectures but in this book It’s very well presented
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- William Bowen
- 01-10-18
Incredibly insightful and hugely articulate
I would recommend this book to any aspiring economist or person interested in understanding growth trends and those trying to find recession predictors.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 17-04-21
Good book, narrator not the best
I liked the book, a lot of interesting stories and ideas, I liked the narrator too BUT it's annoying everytime he tries to impersonate someone when quoting them he just ends up sounding like an asthmatic.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- JakobK
- 10-04-21
Great contrasting perspective on GDP
GDP is a useful measure, but not the one and only measure. This book explains this very well, shows the shortcomings of the current way to calculate GDP, the disastrous consequences an over reliance can have, and alternative views that should be pursuit by policy makers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Bobby
- 21-02-21
Eye opening
Discusses GDP, its history, its orginal purpose and how it has been twisted since that its orginal formulation to essentially be a proxy for well being. You should read this book to understand more about GDP and other indexes and how they reflect on society.
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- Beshr
- 28-11-19
Must Read
Excellent content. Fun narration. Very important to those with even the slightest interest in the public good! Highly recommended.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 28-09-18
Interesting book. Didn't like narrator
Hard to listen to.
Narrator reading quotes (of which there are many ) in a stupid voice bugged me.
Other than that the book was ok.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Tina
- 25-09-18
Fascinating and makes so much sense
I have often wondered if it was just me who didn't believe growth to be the 'be all and end all' to measure a nation's prosperity. Measuring the rise of GDP alone just leads to us all working harder and faster, getting more stressed and living in more polluted and sprawling cities. Where is the measure of well-being for us and our beloved countryside?
This book explains clearly the way things work now, and alternative methods - already being tried and tested in forward-thinking countries - which take account of sustainability of resources and how to balance wealth and well-being for everyone. This isn't some idealistic idea of all being equal, which could never work, but it does value the quality of life and health of our planet.
I am no economist but even I can see how wrong the current system of evaluation is when EVERYTHING is measured in Pounds, Dollars, Euros etc. For example, the value of a forest is calculated by the amount of money it would be worth if all the trees were cut down and sold. No matter the issue of biodiversity of the flora and fauna that live there or carbon-capture or value to our health and sanity.
The moral here is that there is more to life than ever-increasing production and wealth. I highly recommend this book to those who can open their minds or just always suspected that there is a better way.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. Jr Baker
- 11-08-21
Not the book I thought it was
I am interested in degrowth arguments but this is more about the ins and outs of GDP accounting- history methodology criticisms alternatives- much of which was reasonably familiar to me. well written and researched but not the meaty argument in favour of sacrificing growth for the environment I expected. i should have read the synopsis better.
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