Thursday, March 12, 2009

You make what you measure

Posted by Duncan Drennan at 09:17 Tags: , , , , ,
We have allowed ourselves to be framed as consumers. We hear it constantly – we are not referred to as people, or producers, or savers, we are referred to as consumers. The more I hear the term, the more it bothers me, and the more I feel that referring to ourselves in that way takes away a part of our humanity. It leaves me with this image of gluttonous people at a table unable to stop eating and waiters who are all too happy to keep bringing food as they picture the giant tip at the end of the evening. We are fed an information diet from news to advertising which keeps telling us that we are consumers and we need to consume. It is degrading and we need to reframe how we see ourselves.

Paul Graham referred to an interesting statement in a recent essay, "You make what you measure." And what is it that we measure? GDP – gross domestic product – a measure of a country's consumption. One of the goals of our incumbent economic system is to keep growing GDP, which is to keep producing more and more, which in turn means to continuously grow consumption. So we measure consumption and we create consumers.

We don't measure happiness, we don't measure how much water is available, we don't measure how much we waste, we measure consumption. Imagine how much would change if our leading indicator was the measure of people's happiness. If you want to know, look at the city of Bogota.

To support our current economic system we seek out ways to create more consumption. Disposable paper cups, nappies, razor blades, and more. Even our "durables" have become disposable – replacement is so cheap...and it is encouraged.

We are left with a world spiralling out of control. We put pressure on our environment to produce more and more so that we can consume more and more. And in the mean time we are not getting happier or healthier.

To stop this we have to fight to regain our humanity. We can no longer accept being referred to as consumers – we are people: mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children. We are more than consumers: we are creators, artists, workers, partners – we are human.

We need to stop measuring ourselves as consumers, and start measuring ourselves as humans.

Some alternatives to GDP are Gross National Happiness and the Genuine Progress Indicator. The Happy Planet Index (a NEF initiative) measures the efficiency with which nations convert ecological resources into long and happy lives for their citizens – their manifesto is a stimulating read.

5 comments :

  1. Anonymous3/13/2009 1:44 pm

    Hi Duncan,

    I am in the middle of "Your Money Or Your Life" and it has a very similar tone to your sentiments. They speak about consumption being a driving economic force so we are all encouraged to do so under the threat of being "unpatriotic" otherwise (speaking from a US perspective, but I'm sure there are similar overtones elsewhere). Although I agree and try to curb my consumption appetite, I wonder if there are economic forces that allow for stability...i.e. people happy with what they have and companies OK with their current output. I think more companies that are capable of knowing where their optimal operating point is and then staying there should be recognized in the media (as opposed to crushed on the stock market for lack of "growth"). I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on such "sustainable" businesses.

    ~Chris Gammell

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  2. Pieter3/13/2009 5:48 pm

    Duncan, I'm with you on this one. At increasing consumption rates, we drive demand (as in supply and demand), causing price inflation (as opposed to monetary inflation). It's a very simplistic argument. With consumption also goes greed. And how greedy haven't we become? Thank you capitalism (or at least this incarnation of it).

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  3. Francois Cilliers3/14/2009 3:35 pm

    I like the idea of alternative measurements to GDP. I wonder how we can get all countries to switch over (after we've decided what exactly the best measurement is).

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  4. Duncan Drennan3/17/2009 9:56 am

    Chris, I really don't know. This is quite a complex issue that I did some thinking about a while ago. I need to revisit and ponder it some more. There are a two things which I think have shaped my thinking on the issue of capitalism and "sustainable" business quite a bit.

    Firstly there is this article The Gospel of Consumption which speaks a lot about how we have been sold a certain way of living. I really believe that the current "norm" has been sold to us over the last 70 years or so. Interestingly enough happiness has not increased over that time period (I can't find that graph now though...arg).

    We also had a big discussion about capitalism on The Forum SA (an SA business forum) which stimulated my thinking quite a bit. Assuming that capitalism is neutral, what type of ethics have we layered on top of it? The whole thread is worth a read.

    That doesn't really answer your question, but I'll spend some more time thinking about it and post some thoughts.

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  5. Anonymous3/17/2009 10:34 am

    Hi Duncan couldn't agree more. We are framed by what we buy. Our status in society depends on the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the gadgets we own and where we shop. Here is a book that looks worth reading - The Real Wealth of Nations by Riane Eisler who promotes a Caring Economics. Caring for People and caring for Nature need to be what drives a new economy. Like you point out GDP is a poor measure of what really counts.

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