Talking Politics

David talks to Diane Coyle about how we measure whether the state of the economy is actually doing us any good. Why is it so hard to capture well-being in economic statistics and what impact has the digital revolution had on our quality of life?Talking Points: What does it mean when there is a disconnect between conventional economic measures and life as it is experienced?Consider the United States: economic indicators such as GDP and unemployment statistics look good, but the social indicators are terrible. Life expectancy is falling due to an epidemic of drug overdoses and suicide. Politics are practically deranged.What are the conventional economic measures missing?There are lots of things going on that GDP doesn’t pick up, especially in the household.Technology is rapidly changing work patterns, and data collection hasn’t yet caught up.Life in cities looks very different than life elsewhere. Due to forces of agglomeration, people in big cities have more access to public services.We need bet