◼ ECONOMICS BloombergBusinessweek November 2, 2020to switch to a better indicator, although we must also
do that,” says Jason Hickel, senior lecturer in anthro-
pology at Goldsmiths, University of London. “We
also have to have policy that’s actively organized
around reducing energy and material throughput.”
The coronavirus could accelerate the shift.
“The time is right, because people have become
much more aware that it’s not only material suc-
cess, but there are other things that count in life,”
says WEF founder Klaus Schwab. “Covid has shown
us very clearly what those are.” �Jana Randow,
CatherineBosley,andJillWard28
THE BOTTOM LINE The pandemic has rekindled efforts to design
frameworks for measuring economic well-being that also factor in
things such as climate change and social equity.The indicator has dominated economic
discourse for almost a century. Its endurance
has much to do with its simplicity. It’s a single,
easy-to-understand number that seems to capture
the overall health of the economy. GDP’s hegemony
has come under assault in recent years, particu-
larly from left-leaning economists. Nobel laureate
Joseph Stiglitz has spoken of “GDP fetishism” and,
along with Jean-Paul Fitoussi, proposed a nuanced
approach that includes well-being and the environ-
ment. “You can have a very important growth rate
of GDP, but if it goes to only 1% of the population, it
has no meaning,” says Fitoussi, professor emeritus
at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
GDP’s origins reach to the Great Depression,
when American economist Simon Kuznets was
looking for ways to explain to Congress what
was happening to the U.S. economy. Even then
he warned of its limits. “The welfare of a nation
can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of
national income,” he wrote.
The big problem is that the gauge is crude: The
production of weapons, hospital beds, or choco-
late cake all get counted in the same way, whether
or not they’re beneficial to society and the envi-
ronment. Also, it’s an imperfect tool for measur-
ing production of intangibles—a definite downside
in our digital age. And it makes no allowance for
unpaidlaborsuchaschildrearingandhousework.
Bhutan started pursuing gross national
happinessinthe 1970s,andotheralternative
measureshavesprungupthiscentury.Australia
beganmeasuring well-being in 2001, and Europe’s
“Beyond GDP” initiative of more comprehensive
indicators dates to 2007. A United Nations-linked
group publishes a World Happiness Report.
Kate Raworth, an adviser at the University of
Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, came
up with a “doughnut model” that includes access
to housing, food, health care, and education, as
well as climate change. The ring of the doughnut is
the sweet spot between minimum social standards
on one side and overusing the planet’s resources
on the other.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has
embarked on a “GDP and Beyond” initiative to
improveitsuseofdataoneconomicwell-being
andsustainability.It releaseda setofprototype
measuresinMarchandexpectstoupdatesomeof
themregularlystartinginDecember.
Climatechangeandsocialjusticefeatureheavily
in many alternative models. Some even argue the
objective of growth itself must be abandoned in
major economies to save the planet. That’s the crux
of the “degrowth” movement. “It’s not just enough● Minorityentrepreneursstruggletobreakintothe$16billion
U.S.potmarket,despitegovernmenteffortstogivethema legupLost in the We ed
“We’reheretogetyouguysmedicatedandelevated,”
says Seun Adedeji, greeting customers at the Oct. 15
grand opening of his store in central Massachusetts
with a pandemic-friendly elbow bump.
Adedeji is a cannabis entrepreneur. In his skinny
suit, T-shirt, and wingtips with no socks, he looks
the part. His shop, not so much. It’s a low-slung
brick building that used to be a gas station in the
former mill town of Athol (population 12,000). It
still could be mistaken for one, except for the green
marijuana leaf balloons hanging from the ceiling
and the rainbow of glass pipes on the counter.
As a 27-year-old Nigerian immigrant with only
a high school diploma, Adedeji is a rarity in the
$16 billion-a-year U.S. legal marijuana business:
a dispensary owner who’s Black. His company’s
name, Elev8 Cannabis, has a double meaning. It’s
about getting high, of course, but also alludes to
the legalization movement’s social equity mission.
Advocates call for government support of Black-
owned cannabis companies to reverse the devastat-
ing toll of the war on drugs and mass incarceration
onminoritycommunities.GrowingupinChicago,
Adedejihimselfwasarrestedat 13 forsellingpot.
Yet,forallthetalkofjustice,it’sWhitecorporate
types—many from Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and
big liquor and tobacco—who’ve come to dominate
the lucrative emerging industry. The Minority