>>It's impossible to measure.<<
i disagree.
>>Getting news a day before it's in the newspaper and hours before it's on television. Does it matter? Ask the people who get the latest "warning" before it even hits CNBC.<<
who cares if it doesn't translate into dollars? if it does translate into dollars then gdp picks it up.
>>Comparison shopping to decide which product to buy.<<
something near and dear to my heart. again, who cares unless it translates into more dollars? the macro pov doesn't care who gets the $$$, just that somebody gets them.
>>Getting the cheapest price when you decide what you want to buy.<<
this is also picked up in dollars. i notice that you appear to be mixing micro and macro productivity here. i'm talking macro. if i get a better price than i would have otherwise gotten (and i do a lot! ;-) then the contribution to gdp is lower than it otherwise would be. this can be made up if more sales are made due to the lower price.
>>Researching your symptoms to see what disease you have.<<
if it doesn't make you more economically productive than otherwise would have been then macro productivity doesn't care whether you are got better more quickly or not. if you were able to return to work and generated more revenues more quickly then gdp picks this up and it is accounted for.
>>Researching the best medicine for it.<<
same as above.
>>Finding a support group of others with the same disease and discussing treatment options, so you know what works, what doesn't, and what are the side effects.<<
same as above.
>>Finding a group of people who have the car you do so you can discuss how to take care of it.<<
same as above.
>>Finding a group of people who have the same computer you do so you can find out how to fix it.<<
same as above.
>>Finding a map to your destination.<<
same as above (notice a pattern? ;-)
>>Finding a hotel for when you get there, and making sure it's on the beach instead of a block away, or across the street from the convention center instead of miles away.<<
same as above.
>>Finding restaurant reviews so you don't eat at a place that serves bad food.<<
same as above.
>>I could go on and on, but why bother? Either you get what I am talking about or you don't.<<
i think the issue here is what is productivity. gdp is supposed to measure the nation's economic output. productivity growth is the growth of gdp. gdp doesn't care if viagra improves one's love life. nor should it. that is, unless one frequents a brothel (male or female!) in nevada and increases the economic output of the nation. of course, viagra sales are captured in gdp so increased demand for viagra is accounted for that way. what isn't accounted for is the $1,000 benefit a person "feels" over and above the $100 they *paid*. only the amount paid matters in an economic system.
we can mind meld productivity to mean whatever we want. convenience. enjoyment. pleasure. whatever.
but that is not what gdp is supposed to measure and productivity growth is defined as gdp growth. should gdp go up because we *feel* batter and *value* the day more? who decides what everyone *feels*? sound absurd? that is exactly where this road leads.
alan greenspan bastardized the system and misled the world into believing new economy crap.
how do you know the value of 3 apples compared to 5 oranges? it is actually impossible to tell the "true value" and it would be absurd to try. every person has a different value system, sensory system, preference system, etc (ad nauseum!) and would value each item differently.
that is the beauty of an economic system. everything is boiled down into a single common denominator called dollars. while i look at the price per unit of apples and oranges, you are telling me that it is impossible to gauge the exact taste bud response and its impact on a person. i'm telling you, i can. $1.75 for 3 apples and $2.25 for 5 oranges b/c that is the posted price. economics doesn't care about whether you feel 10 times more ecstacy with each bite of an apple relative to each orange bite. it just doesn't care and it shouldn't. presumably, though, average levels of ecstacy per bite are figured in, on average, b/c that would impact overall demand and, therefore, price. but, again, economics doesn't care nor should it. $1.75 and $2.25 are used for comparison. period.
i'm not saying that it isn't easier to learn computer programming. it is. newsgroups are great. gdp shouldn't care until i turn that knowledge into more marginal valued output (ie, dollars).
otherwise, i haven't increased the nation's economic output one iota. |
