Anna Anderson, Chapter 9, Question #6

Before reading this chapter, I understood the basics of the GDP, and I assumed that it was a good and accurate way of measuring a country's growth. I still kind of think that, but Wheelan brought up the example of India's GDP versus Israel's GDP, and if you just look at the straight numbers, it looks like India is the wealthier country. However, they also have over a billion people, in comparison to Israel's seven million. The per capita measurement is important and can have an effect on whether the numbers are actually super accurate. Also, this chapter made me think about how GDP is also not always the best way to measure a country's wealth, especially in times of high unemployment, and in countries where there is a lot of poverty. Additionally, it made me think about how many people see a direct relationship between money and happiness, because a lot of times we seem to look at the GDP to determine the quality of life in a certain place.