ABSTRACT
This chapter argues the debate over new prosperity indicators signals a turning point in history, and as such deserves close attention. It demonstrates this in four steps. First the chapter recalls how GDP emerged from a specific historical context, in which national accounting was established as a tool of economic policy, rooted in post-war social compromises. Second the chapter introduces three major issues specific to its era which justifies the search for alternative indicators: the growing importance of social goals to which economic growth cannot respond in a fully satisfactory way; the disconnect between economic growth and subjective evaluations of life satisfaction; and, the urgent and complex problem of the environment. Third the chapter presents a concise overview of existing indicators designed to that end, categorised according to the three issues identified above, and then outlines the main questions each indicator would raise with its use. Fourth the chapter explores the fundamental concerns that underpin this debate.
