Why do we use Gross Domestic Product instead of Net Domestic Product?

Why do we use Gross Domestic Product instead of Net domestic Product?

  • Whenever measuring the strength and growth of a countries economy we only look at the yearly gross domestic product, why don't we do so at the net domestic product? Isn't it more logical to take into account the loss/consumption of the country as well as the overall production?

  • Answer:

    GDP attempts to measure what has been produced (the key word here is "production") ... therefore the investment component is the increase in the level of capital stock. NetGDP looks at the net increase. If the intent is to capture what has been produced, NetGDP would under state the amount of Goods and Services that have been produced - and likewise understate the income generated from that production. That said, many applications of GDP would actually use NetGDP - i.e. growth theory, because it needs to take account for the rate of depreciation.

Chinmay P at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Other answers

Well first of all, GDP does measure consumption, but that isn't important here. Many developmental economists would agree with you that GDP is not a good total measure of economic well-being. Especially if sustainable development is the goal. Things like environmental loss/gain are things they think should be measured. The problem with measuring things like that are that it is difficult to quantify the loss/gain of one extra tree.

Trey

Because it is not so shiny number as GDP and GDP looks better. There is no other logical answer to you question than this.

Crazy Man

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