From cb488df0616395c728835012972285c220f63bfe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Yev Chuba Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:40:55 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add concrete examples of GDP's perverse incentives in chapter 3 - Include visceral examples of how human tragedies boost GDP metrics - Examples: divorces, hurricanes, mass shootings, opioid crisis - Strengthens the argument about GDP measuring destruction as production - Creates emotional impact before the concluding critique - Makes abstract economic criticism tangible and memorable --- src/content/the-last-economy/chapter-3.mdx | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/src/content/the-last-economy/chapter-3.mdx b/src/content/the-last-economy/chapter-3.mdx index 250d1b9..2f2d9f8 100644 --- a/src/content/the-last-economy/chapter-3.mdx +++ b/src/content/the-last-economy/chapter-3.mdx @@ -68,7 +68,9 @@ _What does equilibrium mean in a market designed for exponential acceleration?_ **The Reality Check:** Wikipedia provides twenty billion pages of free knowledge monthly. Its contribution to human flourishing is incalculable. Its contribution to GDP, however, is negative because it destroyed the encyclopedia industry, a market where a single set of Britannica encyclopedias once cost consumers $1,400. -This reveals the central perversity of our economic dashboard: it registers the creation of immense public value as a loss, while consistently counting the human tragedies and social costs detailed in the preceding exhibits as positive growth. We measure destruction as production and wonder why society feels like it is falling apart while the numbers go up. +Meanwhile, GDP celebrates actual human tragedies as economic growth. A divorce boosts GDP through lawyer fees, court costs, and duplicate housing. A hurricane is an economic bonanza: insurance payouts, reconstruction spending, and replacement purchases all count as positive growth. A mass shooting triggers a surge in security spending, therapy sessions, and funeral services that our economic dashboard registers as prosperity. The opioid crisis has been a GDP goldmine: pharmaceutical sales, addiction treatment centers, and rehabilitation facilities all contribute to the "growing economy." + +This reveals the central perversity of our economic dashboard: it registers the creation of immense public value as a loss, while consistently counting human tragedies and social costs as positive growth. We measure destruction as production and wonder why society feels like it is falling apart while the numbers go up. _If the best things in life are free, why is our economy designed to measure only the things that cost money?_