More than once over the years this column has sought to expose the absurdity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculations. On their face they presume that the U.S. is an isolated economic island, rather than an integrated aspect of a global economic whole.
Nobel Laureate Robert Mundell long ago observed that the only closed economy is the world economy, and as such, U.S. production (think the globalized manufacture of Apple's iPad, or Boeing's 787 Dreamliner) is a function of ties to economic activity occurring around the world. GDP presumes a country alone, and worse uniformity; the latter certainly belied by the profound difference between New York City and its neighbor in New Jersey, Newark.
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