I did my book review on Mis-Measuring Our Lives, by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, and Jean-Paul Fitoussi. The book is about how the measure of GDP is not consistent enough to measure the well-being of a society.

            There are a few main points throughout the book. There are three chapters. In the first they tell us about why GDP is not measured as correctly as we think. It also lets us know how many things affect it. Chapter two speaks on quality of life. They touch on three approaches on how we currently measure the quality of life. The authors point out the differences, similarities, and weaknesses. Finally three tells us about Sustainable Development & Environment. The term “Green GDP” is brought up, which is ”an index of economic growth with environmental consequences of that growth factored into a country’s conventional GDP.”(Wikipedia)

            The insights that I read through the book related to unit 2. It tells about things like consumption, and the well-being of society. The thing I learned was the term Green GDP. I never knew it existed. I don’t wish anything else was included. I do find the whole topic of the book interesting. I would like to know why they decided to write a book about this. This book definitely changed my thought on how GDP is measured. It also made me think about how the smallest things are accounted for in GDP.

Authors: Joseph E. Stinglitz, Amartya Sen, Jean-Paul Fitoussi.

Publisher: The New Press

ISBN: 978-1-59558519-6

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_gross_domestic_product