ABSTRACT
In the recent past, the debate over the measurement and assessment of economic growth and GDP as a measure of growth has gained in importance. There are still very different assessments and positions taken to explain various terms like quantitative growth, qualitative growth and, more recently, sustainable growth. Correspondingly, the topic of how to measure and assess economic growth is a controversial one. The former Prime Minister of Saxony, Kurt Biedenkopf, spoke for other critics when he declared in an interview that growth had become a fetish that leads to irrational consequences, such as the exploitation of resources, the destruction of the climate, and a burden for future generations. The cause of the international financial crisis, according to Stiglitz, can be found in the addiction to growth (Stiglitz 2010).
