1. What is the difference between an intermediate good and a final good? Why do we care?
Intermediate goods are products that are not finished yet. They can be use to make multiple products. For instance, the flour to make bread would be an intermediate good while the bread would be the finished product or good. This is important because intermediate goods are not count for GDP while finished products that are ready to be sold and be consumed count as a part of the economic value of the GDP.
2. Is GDP a good measure of well-being? Why or why not? What is missing? Has what is missing changed over the years? (For example, if improvements in products are not counted, is that more important now than it was a few decades ago?)
GDP measures the value of final goods produced in the country GDP is a good measure of well-being monetarily. The book says that a country with a larger GDP has a better chance of having access to things more easily. The more labor and production of goods the people make the more the GDP increases. The more overwork people are the less they can enjoy themselves so it would not be a good measure of well-being. It is important to keep in mind that GDP only counts for products sold in markets, the products produced at home do not count for the GDP. The way they measure GDP has not changed. However, they politicians are discussing including the well-being for the environment and people individually.
3. What do you think of other measures such as Gross National Happiness pr Gross Progress Indicator?
Gross National Happiness and Gross Progress indicator include physical, mental health, equality, and education. It could be good if all of these could be calculated individually to measure the well-being of people and environment. I personally, like the idea of measuring quality of life factors and this is what Gross National Happiness focuses on.
Netsy's Thoughts 