Tonight, I want to discuss economic growth. This may sound like standard fare. In the media, economists spend much of their time discussing growth and its statistical counterpart, Gross Domestic Product or GDP. At least for some, this focus is misplaced. For example, it is increasingly well-recognised that GDP is apartial, and often imperfect, measure of societal well-being. As Einstein said, not all that can be counted counts.
But even if it is not all that counts, sustained economic growth remains the single most important determinant of rising societal living standards. To bring that point to life, consider two economies – China and Italy. As recently as 1990, the aggregate annual income of these two economies was roughly equal. Now let’s run these economies forward, with China growing at more than 10% per year, Italy by less than 1% per year.
Growing, fast and slow
Given at the University of East Anglia.