GDP grows, but do people's lives grow?

josevas217 (80)in PussFi 🐈 • 20 hours ago

Hello PussFi Friends, good day to all. Today I want to share a thought that's been on my mind for some time, because it's a topic that's often taken for granted, as if it were an absolute truth, but when you look at it a little more calmly, you realize that it's not as simple as we've been led to believe.

For years (or rather, for decades), it's been repeated that the clearest way to measure a country's growth is through GDP, that indicator that appears in all economic news and that, in theory, reflects how much a nation produces and how much its economy grows. And yes, it's true, GDP helps us understand the level of productive activity, the movement of businesses, the generation of goods and services, and the overall performance of the economy. No one disputes that. But does it really tell us how people are living within that country? That's the uncomfortable question that's almost never asked.

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Because it's one thing for companies to produce more, for large conglomerates to increase their revenues, and for macroeconomic indicators to look good in official reports, and quite another for that to translate into real well-being for the population. There are countries with impressive economic growth figures, but with alarming levels of social inequality, with collapsed healthcare systems, with millions of people without their own homes, with low-quality education, and with a huge gap between rich and poor. So, can we really say that these countries are growing?

Now, the picture becomes even more complex with the rise of artificial intelligence and automation. Many companies are replacing human workers with automated systems, algorithms, and robots that do the work faster, cheaper, and tirelessly. From a GDP perspective, this can be wonderful: productivity increases, costs decrease, and profits rise. But from a social perspective, the impact is very different. Fewer jobs, more job insecurity, more people displaced from the labor market, and greater concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.

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In other words, a business owner may be earning more money, the company may be growing, macroeconomic indicators may be showing positive numbers, but the lives of millions of people aren't necessarily improving. And this is where the discourse of economic growth begins to fall short. Because if growth doesn't reach the people, if it doesn't translate into better living conditions, then we are measuring something, yes, but not what truly matters.

That's why I believe it's essential to broaden how we evaluate a country's development. It's not enough to look at GDP. We must consider social inequality, access to education, the quality of the healthcare system, the number of people who own their own homes, real employment opportunities, social mobility, security, access to basic services, and, in general, the level of dignity with which citizens live. These factors reveal far more about the true state of a nation than any isolated macroeconomic figure.

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This isn't about denying the importance of economic growth, because it's obviously necessary. Without production, businesses, and investment, there are no resources to sustain public policies or social programs. But we also can't continue believing that growth alone guarantees progress. Recent history shows that this isn't always the case. Sometimes the economy grows, but well-being doesn't. Sometimes the numbers increase, but people's lives don't improve.

This is a personal reflection; perhaps not everyone will agree, and that's fine. But I believe that as long as we continue to measure a country's success solely with numbers, and not with the quality of life of its inhabitants, we will continue to confuse growth with development. Goodbye, and take care.