Bill Wilson MSP

Dr Bill Wilson, an SNP MSP for the West of Scotland who has often spoken of the dangers of relying on GDP as measure of progress, has praised the French president for not only setting up a commission to look into alternatives to GDP as a measure of economic progress but actually also accepting this commission’s recommendations.  Dr Wilson yesterday lodged a Parliamentary Motion calling on the Scottish and UK governments to follow the French lead.

He commented:  “The French have a reputation for valuing quality of life and for having revolutionary tendencies.  President Sarkozy has brought these two elements together in a hugely significant and praiseworthy move.

“Chasing ever-increasing GDP at the expense of what actually matters to people and what will matter to their children, is utterly stupid.

“As Robert F. Kennedy said of GNP, but equally could have said of GDP, it ‘does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.’

“The USA’s supposed economic superiority takes a severe blow when the crude measure of GDP is replaced by a more sophisticated one taking account of outputs rather than inputs, of environmental factors, of wellbeing, and not least of healthcare – France has an excellent system!  I believe that if the report’s recommendations were universally adopted the welfare of billions of people, and their long-term security, would be significantly enhanced.

“I agree with President Sarkozy that all responsible governments should realise that the present economic crisis obliges them to take a hard look at the system of economics that got us into this mess.  It would be a criminal waste of an opportunity simply to patch the flawed old machinery, crank it up with taxpayers’ money, and set it running down the road to ruin.

“Scotland leads the world when it comes to climate-change legislation.  Now France leads the world when it comes to jettisoning the malign GDP-fetish.  Viva la France!  Vive the auld alliance!”

Notes to Editors

1.  Text of motion

S3M-04867 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Ending the GDP Fetish— That the Parliament welcomes the recent report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, contributed to by economics professors Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, which calls for an end to “GDP fetishism”; believes that an economic approach focused on ever-increasing GDP to the detriment of other factors is unsustainable and has been disastrous for the wellbeing of individuals and the environment; agrees with the report that a new indicator of progress is needed, one that considers issues such as environmental protection and work/life balance as well as economic output, to rate a country’s ability to maintain the sustainable happiness of its inhabitants; notes that, were such methodology to be used, and, as a result, GDP took into account outcomes and not just financial inputs, the United States of America's apparently large economic lead over France in terms of its GDP would be greatly reduced due to France's high-quality health service, welfare system and long holidays, all of which contribute to the wellbeing of its inhabitants; commends French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his response to the report, not least his statement that “the [present economic] crisis doesn't only make us free to imagine other models, another future, another world. It obliges us to do so”, and his instruction to France’s national statistics body, Insee, to update its methods in accordance with the report's recommendations, and calls on the Scottish and UK Governments urgently to follow his lead and to encourage other countries to do so.

2.  Related previous releases

3.  Background information

Financial Times coverage
Guardian Coverage