Showcasing the Inequality behind the Economic Productivity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18662/lumeneas/6.1/26Keywords:
productivity, measurement, indicator, callisthenic productivityAbstract
It has been a while since we have started understanding the effects of our economic activity. But are we really doing anything about it? In this paper, we aim at introducing and presenting a new indicator meant to tell the story of economic productivity beyond its economic implications. The construction of the new indicator starts by computing national economic productivity as a sum of labor and capital productivity. The national economic productivity is introduced in a multiplicative equation with reversed GINI coefficient, the human development index and a ratio of biocapacity and ecological footprint of consumption. The reversed GINI coefficient corrects the value of the national economic productivity by accounting for the inequality of the distribution of income. The human development index captivates the quality of life beyond the distribution of income with areas like education and health. The ratio between the biocapacity and the ecological footprint of consumption showcases whether the country can ensure its sustainability by accounting its capacity to produce all that it needs to sustain the life of the citizens and to store and/or to eliminate the production residues. The results are quite surprising, painting a completely different picture from what we know from the economic reports.
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