The Growth Delusion: Why Economists Are Getting It Wrong And What We
Can Do About It

Product Description

A revelatory & entertaining book about the pitfalls of how we measure our economy & how to correct them by an award-winning editor of The Financial Times In The Growth Delusion author & prize-winning journalist David Pilling explores how economists & their cult of growth have hijacked our policy-making & infiltrated our thinking about what makes societies work Our policies are geared relentlessly towards increasing our standard measure of growth Gross Domestic Product By this yardstick we have never been wealthier or happier So why doesn't it feel that way? Why are we living in such fractured times with global populism on the rise & wealth inequality as stark as ever? In a book that is simultaneously trenchant thought-provoking & humorous Pilling argues that we need to measure our successes & failures using different criteria While for economic growth heroin consumption & prostitution are worth more than volunteer work or public services in a rational world we would learn how to value what makes economies better not just what makes them bigger So much of what is important to our wellbeing from clean air to safe streets & from steady jobs to sound minds lies outside the purview of our standard measure of success We prioritise growth maximisation without stopping to think about the costs In prose that cuts through the complex language so often wielded by a priesthood of economists Pilling argues that our steadfast loyalty to growth is informing misguided policies
- & contributing to a rising mistrust of experts that is shaking the very foundations of our democracy