Discussion starters : chapter 21

1. The GDP can tell the CIA that what the country is producing and how much the country is spending. This is a quantitative measure of the well-being of the populace and can tell how much each individual can poosibly spend and therefore can indicate the possible potential happiness of that individual. However, the GDP does not say how the wealth is distributed among the people, so one person could have all the money and everyone else could have none. Economically, this would be bad for GDP because it would decrease if GDP were calculated by expenditures because no matter how much money a single person has, a thousand people can spend alot more money than one person can. Also, GDP does not account for the "cash market" where services are not performed by professionals but rather under the table. Having your neighbour mow your lawn in exchange for you fixing his bike is also not included in GDP.

2. If in some countries, drug are legal, then they are counted in GDP but in others, if drugs are illegal then they are not counted. Therefore, because of this difference in legality the GDP for both countries will seem uneven. The country that has legal drugs will have a relatively higher GDP then one with illegal drugs because even though the drugs are still in the country, they are not counted because they are illegal, which lowers the country's GDP. The prohibition of alcohol and the hunting of endangered species may also confuse comparisons of GDP between countries.

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5. Leisure time could be included as a measure of social welfare because it provides oppurtunities for happiness for the worker. Leisure time could be measured by the wage of the worker or his contribution to GDP because if he did not have leisure time then that time could have been spent working and contributing to GDP