Is the GDP growth rate as fast as possible?

Gross domestic product (GDP) represents the final result of production activities (including products and services) of all permanent units in a country (or region) in a certain period, and it is the sum of added value of various industries in the national economy during the accounting period (the sum of newly created value of various industries and the value of fixed assets transfer). Nobel Prize winners Samuelson and nordhaus called GDP "one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century" in economics textbooks. GDP is an important indicator to measure economic development, but GDP is not everything, and there are still many aspects of GDP that cannot be measured. In recent years, with the strengthening of people's awareness of environmental protection, people began to reflect on the high figures and fast speed of GDP growth. Does it mean that the level of social and economic development is high and fast?

There are three classic jokes about GDP shortage, which are often used by some economists to criticize GDP. As a person who is engaged in GDP accounting in the statistical department, the author made some thoughts after listening to these jokes, and discussed with you to let you have a further understanding of GDP.

The first joke: Two economists went out for a walk and saw a pile of shit on the road. A sudden whim, said to B: You dare to eat this pile of shit, I will give you 654.38+00,000. B didn't say anything, but really bent down to eat. A was shocked and had to pay 654.38+00,000 yuan to fulfill his promise. Although B got the money, he was not satisfied. He said to A, if you dare to eat shit, I will give you 654.38+00,000. A made every effort to make up for the loss, and finally, they were even. However, due to their respective consumption of 6,543,800 yuan, the national GDP has increased.

Refutation: This joke ignores the basic concept of GDP. "GDP is the final result of all permanent unit production activities in China in a certain period". A very important concept in GDP is the permanent unit, which is defined as an economic unit centered on economic interests within the economic map of China. The concept of economic map is clear and easy to distinguish, but the definition of economic interest center is not clear. It is stipulated that an economic unit with the center of economic interests in China's economic field must meet the following three conditions: (1) having a certain place to engage in economic activities, such as houses and factories; (2) Having a certain scale of economic activities; (3) Have a certain period of economic activity, generally more than one year. From the concept of economic interest center, we can see that the above two economists who eat shit have failed to create GDP. They have a certain economic activity place, roadside and a certain scale of economic activities, 2 million (economists are really rich), but their economic activities that eat shit do not meet the third condition of economic interest center, and they have a certain economic activity time, generally more than one year. These two economists only eat shit occasionally. Unless they have stored grain or are highly conscious, they are willing to eat shit frequently in order to increase China's GDP. At that time, economists will no longer be economists, but should eat shit.

The second joke: two people drive to and from work every day, and cars come and go, which is very safe and has nothing to do with GDP. One day, however, two people crashed, one with a flat front and the other with a broken rear. If two people want to repair the car, they have to spend money, spend money. As a result, GDP has gone up.

Refutation: This joke forgets the most basic premise of economics, that is, the scarcity of resources. If two cars break down and spend money, it will increase the added value of social services (repairing cars should belong to social services), but these two people may reduce consumption in other areas, so the GDP of other industries will decrease accordingly, but it is difficult for us to determine the extent of reduction. All we have to say is that we can't just watch. Again, statistics is to describe real life. You can't crash in order to improve GDP (no one is so dedicated), and you can't stop driving in order not to crash. The appearance and use of cars is the product of social development to a certain stage. With a car, there will be a car accident, the car will break down, and there will be a social service industry for car maintenance. This is real life. Life will not change for GDP, and GDP should reflect economic life.

The third joke says that the government of a small country thinks that GDP growth is too slow, and asks the US GDP consultant for help. According to the consultant, it is very simple to make GDP go up: let A's housewife go to B's house to cook, B pays, B's housewife goes to C's house to cook, C pays ... and so on, as long as housewives all over the country don't cook in their own homes, GDP will go up!

Refutation: GDP should examine and reflect the real world. The reason why we don't count the housewife's labor into GDP now is because she doesn't have a good market price to measure it, which does not affect the reflection of GDP on the economy. The method said by the consultant is feasible in theory, but it is not economical, realistic and does not conform to the behavior of helping people in real life. Economics studies real economic life, while statistics describes economic phenomena with numerical indicators. Economists often look at the world with simple thinking and apply the laws derived from simple models to complex models, which makes a mistake that is divorced from reality.