Introduction -- What it's all about : a short primer on GDP -- William petty and political arithmetic : the origins of GDP -- The frustrations of Colin Clark : England -- Simon Kuznets and the politics of gross national product : the United States -- War, kidnapping, and data theft : Germany --...

This innovative history of welfare economics challenges the view that welfare economics can be discussed without taking ethical values into account. Whatever their theoretical commitments, when economists have considered practical problems relating to public policy, they have adopted a wider...