GDP is a closely watched indicator of the current health of the economy and an important tool of economic policy. It has been called one of the great inventions of the 20th Century. It is not, however, a persuasive indicator of individual wellbeing or economic progress. There have been calls to...

This paper offers a critical comment on the interpretation that Adam Smith's lsquo;real measure of exchangeable value' was addressed, at least in part, to the index number problem of estimating intertemporal changes in general purchasing power. It is argued that the lsquo;real measure' is...