Tree Climbing Goldfish , Economics and Measures of Productivity.

Reading that Article reminded me of the Military Maxim, “The Map is not the Territory.”
Measures of Productivity seem to me to be as flawed as those other mainstays of the dismal science Stick, GDP growth or the Retail Price index. They are deeply flawed static and whats more fail to capture the Non Monetised goods present in well ordered civil society.
The definition of Terms and how stable those definitions are with respect to a reliable stable measuring unit seems to be the problem. Coupled with the Variance in the measuring unit ( Money) there is also the Subjective ranking of Needs and Wants. Whose point of view is being catered to seems to me to affect greatly the questions which are offered up for an answer. Google Economics as if People Mattered for details. http://bfy.tw/JBzv
Einstien said something about Judging Gold Fish’s performance on their ability to Climb trees would perhaps be un-helpful and I suspect that our present methods of Valuing productivity have something of the Abilities of Tree Climbing Goldfish about them.

We need to be more like Vinnie in my opinion.