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Forget GDP — We Need Numbers That Matter for the Questions We Have

Harvard Business Review

No single number has become more central to society in the past 50 years than GDP — Gross Domestic Product. government released its revised estimate for GDP for the last three months of 2013. The limitations of GDP have long been recognized. Academics have also joined the post-GDP party. This past Friday, the U.S.

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Women and the economy: an opportunity for growth

Strategy Driven

As Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund states: if women were employed at the same rate as men, GDP would increase by 5 percent in the United States, by 9 percent in Japan and by 27 percent in India. Women are historically underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

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What Alan Greenspan Has Learned Since 2008

Harvard Business Review

Lots of people blamed Greenspan for some or all of this, and the man himself famously allowed, in a Congressional hearing in October 2008, that he had “found a flaw” in his model of how the world works. It’s true of GDP. This is the reason why everybody missed September the 15th, 2008. We do the research here.”

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To Improve African Education, Focus on Technology

Harvard Business Review

These present drivers of its economy, however, are under threat from technology. I founded the nonprofit African Institution of Technology to help universities in the region develop capabilities in emerging areas like microelectronics, biotech, and nanotechnology. Education drives technology. publicly traded companies.

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China’s Economy, in Six Charts

Harvard Business Review

Its gross domestic product has surged from less than $150 billion in 1978 to $8,227 billion in 2012 (see “China’s GDP” chart below). Despite these impressive achievements, there is still plenty of room for catch up, with China’s per capita GDP only a fifth of the U.S. percentage points of GDP growth in 1979-1989, 0.5

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Leading Job Growth in the Digital Economy

Harvard Business Review

The heart-wrenching scene reminded me of the terrible challenges that today’s job-seekers face thanks to the advance of technologies that make human labor obsolete. In emerging markets, labor’s share of GDP is declining in 42 out of 59 countries, including China, Mexico and India. So what are we to do?

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Four Major Changes in Global Prosperity

Harvard Business Review

Over recent years, governments too have increasingly begun to realize that focusing on GDP growth alone does not necessarily lead to improvements in living standards of their citizens. Put simply, what’s good for increasing GDP may not be good for the long-term betterment of society. Here are four observations that stand out.