GDP: The World's Most Powerful Formula and Why it Must Now Change

Gross Domestic Product is failing. For decades it has rewarded environmental destruction and obscured inequality. Its formula can be—and has been—gamed to the detriment of developing countries.

In this powerfully argued book, nowupdated with a new chapter, science writer Ehsan Masood shows how GDP fell fromthe path envisaged by its architects, and how its long-term misapplication haskept large parts of the world in poverty, while helping accelerate globalwarming and biodiversity loss.

As the world rebuildsafter the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying global recession, our needfor a more sustainable and inclusive measure of economic growth has never beengreater. Change must come if we are to break the cycle. With clarity andpassion, Masood shows how we can update GDP for a better future.

[previously published as The Great Invention in North America]