economic indicator

Statistical measure of a country's or region's well-being. The most common are gross domestic product and gross national product.

The genuine progress indicator developed 1992 in the USA is a monetary indicator based on personal consumption, adding the value of housework and the services of capital, but subtracting costs associated with pollution, resource depletion, accidents, loss of leisure time, and underemployment. Other indicators were being developed elsewhere to include concepts like sustainability and the quality of life.

The indicators can be said to determine policies; for example, if the costs of pollution are recorded as economic benefits, there is no incentive to create financial policies that discourage pollution. New indicators are intended to redirect local and national economies towards societal and ecological goals.