New Release Books by Jean-Paul Fitoussi

In 2009, a group of economists issued a report challenging gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of progress and well-being. Now, in Measuring What Counts they - propose a new, 'beyond GDP' agenda. This book provides an accessible overview of the last decade's global movement, sparked by the original critique of GDP, and proposes a new 'dashboard' of metrics to assess a society's health, including measures of inequality and economic vulnerability, whether growth is environmentally sustainable, and how people feel about their lives.

The 2009 Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (“Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi” Commission) concluded that we should move away from over-reliance on GDP when assessing a country’s health, towards a broader dashboard of indicators that would reflect concerns such as the distribution of well-being and sustainability in all of its dimensions. This book includes contributions from members of the OECD-hosted High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, the successor of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission, and their co-authors on the latest research in this field. These contributions look at key issues raised by the 2009 Commission that deserved more attention, such as how to better include the environment and sustainability in our measurement system, and how to improve the measurement of different types of inequalities, of economic insecurity, of subjective well-being and of trust. A companion volume Beyond GDP: Measuring What Counts for Economic and Social Performance presents an overview by the co-chairs of the High Level Expert Group, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand of the progress accomplished since the 2009 report, of the work conducted by the Group over the past five years, and of what still needs to be done.

In February of 2008, amid the looming global financial crisis, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France asked Nobel Prize–winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, along with the distinguished French economist Jean Paul Fitoussi, to establish a commission of leading economists to study whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—the most widely used measure of economic activity—is a reliable indicator of economic and social progress. The Commission was given the further task of laying out an agenda for developing better measures. Mismeasuring Our Lives is the result of this major intellectual effort, one with pressing relevance for anyone engaged in assessing how and whether our economy is serving the needs of our society. The authors offer a sweeping assessment of the limits of GDP as a measurement of the well-being of societies—considering, for example, how GDP overlooks economic inequality (with the result that most people can be worse off even though average income is increasing); and does not factor environmental impacts into economic decisions. In place of GDP, Mismeasuring Our Lives introduces a bold new array of concepts, from sustainable measures of economic welfare, to measures of savings and wealth, to a “green GDP.” At a time when policymakers worldwide are grappling with unprecedented global financial and environmental issues, here is an essential guide to measuring the things that matter.

GDP can’t tell us everything we need to know about economic performance and social progress, even if it is the most well-known and most used economic indicator. This volume shows that over-reliance on GDP as the yardstick of economic performance misled policy makers who did not see the 2008 crisis coming and did not adequately assess its economic and social consequences. The co-chairs of the OECD-hosted High Level Expert Group on the measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Martine Durand, argue that we need to develop dashboards of what really matters: who is benefitting from growth, whether that growth is environmentally sustainable, how people feel about their lives, what factors contribute to an individual’s or a country’s success. Doing this will help policy makers make the right choices for their people, their countries and the world.

L'analyse des caractéristiques économiques, institutionnelles et sociales des pays ayant réussi à réduire leur taux de chômage, ou même à ne pas connaître de chômage de masse, peut être riche d'enseignements. Ainsi, les institutions déterminent l'effet des chocs macroéconomiques sur le chômage. Et les pactes sociaux décidés en Norvège, aux Pays-Bas et en Irlande ont réduit le chômage.

This is the first in a series of annual reports on European economic developments by an international panel of distinguished economists, writing accessibly. Competitive Disinflation addresses one of the main areas of debate concerning economic developments in Europe: the extent to which the budgetary policy of national governments is competitive rather than cooperative. The discussion focuses on three particular cases, French macroeconomic policy since 1987, the reunification of Germany, and constraints imposed on national governments budgetary powers by membership of the EMU. This is a book about the radical alteration of the environment in which economic policy is formulated, with an analysis of options for action and a consideration of factors limiting the effectiveness of that action. It will be a stimulating read for all those, including students, who have an interest in macroeconomic policy issues in the context of European pressures.