ABSTRACT
This chapter first provides the Beyond GDP debate (BGD) in the context of current European economic policy and governance. We argue that these two hardly fit together and that the latter has to be changed if the former is to be taken seriously. Then the chapter attempts to shed some light on the main dimensions of the triple crisis in economic performance, social progress and their potential limits, and relates these crises to the attempts to find a better way of measuring progress. It explains the historical background of the BGD, which had its first peak in the 1970s. In particular, people ask why GDP became an ever more important indicator while the alternatives are hardly known today, and what can be learned for the current debate from discussions that took place over 40 years back. Finally the chapter proposes employment, distribution and socio-ecological transition as the three pillars of a project to increase welfare.
