uk-policy sustainable economic policy - what is it?

Simon Bullock (simonb@foe.co.uk)
Fri, 11 Dec 1998 13:44:47 -0800

The UK Government has recently launched its consultation on indicators
of sustainable development. The first indicator is "economic growth -
total output of the economy" - more proof that although economists and
others accept that GDP is not an indicator of progress, policy makers
still use it for this purpose.

Alternative indicators such as the Indicator of Sustainable Economic
Welfare (ISEW) highlight that the _quality_ of economic activity is
important, and the GDP cannot be a measure of progress towards
sustainable development.

Friends of the Earth has a website on http:/www.foe.co.uk/progress where
you can construct your own alternative indicator to GDP and ISEW. We
invite you to make such an indicator, reflecting the issues you feel are
important - and send us _your results_ via the website. We will use
these results as part of our response to the consultation - to show what
people feel are the worthwhile parts of economic activity.

The site also has a critique of GDP, an indicators discussion group and
information on alternative economic indicators in other countries.

Make your own indicator, on:

http://www.foe.co.uk/progress/make-own.html

The UK Government's indicators consultation is on

http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/sustainable/consult/index.htm

Simon Bullock
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