Both politicians and economists emphasise a need for growth and increased GNP. What economists do not tell you is that it is not a satisfactory measure of economic welfare and that they are fully aware of this. In 1968, Robert Kennedy put it like this: "Gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonders. It counts napalm and it counts nuclear warheads and armoured cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debates, or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."

Milton Gilbert was an economist in the US Department of Commerce who helped create GNP. In 1941 he wrote a paper, "Measuring National Income as Affected by War" which became the model for the development of GNP. He also said "There is no one correct measure of income or output that can be used indiscriminately in every type of economic problem."

Economists do not tell you that there are other measures which attempt to rectify the errors in the use of GNP. They do not apply their theory of diminishing returns to GNP. In fact there is a declining marginal economic benefit from increasing GNP which they make no attempt to evaluate.

There are measures such as ISEW (index of sustainable economic welfare), GPI (genuine progress indicator), and MEW (measure of economic welfare) which make more realistic attempts to measure economic benefits to citizens. The Umited Nation has the HDI (juman development index) to act as a means for international comparisons. Attempts to measure a couple of these measures have shown that not only is there a declining benefit to increasing GNP, but the marginal benefit is actually negative. See Appendix 3.

It is said that the O J Simpson trial and all the associated economic activity must have made a measurable impact on the US economy. In Japan, a measure has been made of the influence of a negative economic activity. The Kobe earthquake in 1995 was considered to have made a 1.2% contribution to the GNP in 1995 with a .4% contribution in the following year.

When the final analysis is made, the "leaky homes" syndrome may very well make a significant contribution to NZ's GNP. Economists have been particularly quiet about this matter. The lack of regulation that could have prevented this problem is in line with their propaganda about the efficiency of the "free market". They have the same attitude to the fact that builders in trouble over their work can easily flit off to Australia. Economists demand that an efficient market requires easy entry and exit from a market.

Volcanoes in Auckland, earthquakes in Wellington, and the Waimakariri River overflowing into Christchurch City would all produce a large GNP boost for NZ.

It may be that retail sales may be a better measure to indicate the economic benefits that citizens receive as this should be the intended result of economic activity.

Another aspect of growth that economists do not discuss is that growth causes inflation! Growth means that the demand for goods will increase. The graph above shows how a demand curve moves out and cut the supply curve higher up. The equilibrium price is large than before. That is, there is inflation in the price.