Engaging Decision-Makers in Moving Beyond GDP and Toward Wealth

The document outlines the conceptual and practical framework for moving beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) toward comprehensive/inclusive wealth (C/IW) measurement. It argues that GDP is biased toward short-term market growth and ignores critical determinants of well-being, such as environmental degradation and social capital. C/IW is presented as a portfolio of human, natural, social, produced, and financial capital that allows countries to determine if their development is sustainable. The briefing provides a three-step implementation strategy: informing decision-makers through tailored briefings, compiling official estimates via national statistical offices, and integrating these measures into ex ante and ex post policy analysis.

• GDP is an insufficient measure of national progress because it focuses on short-term market growth while ignoring long-term costs and non-market benefits. It fails to account for environmental degradation, the destruction of infrastructure from extreme weather, increasing income inequality, and the loss of social connections.
• Comprehensive/inclusive wealth (C/IW) provides a more accurate measure of sustainability by tracking the sum of human, natural, social, produced, and financial capital. Development is considered sustainable only if the real value of this C/IW portfolio per capita remains stable or increases over time.
• Measuring C/IW requires a hybrid approach: most assets are measured in monetary terms to allow for comparability and inflation adjustment, but 'critical' assets, such as the climate system or irreplaceable wilderness, must be measured in physical units to avoid implying they are substitutable.
• The document proposes a three-step process for adoption: first, engaging senior decision-makers in central planning and budgeting departments with tailored arguments; second, tasking national statistical offices to compile estimates, starting with produced, financial, and commercial natural capital; and third, integrating C/IW into ex ante policy analysis.
• Global leaders and organizations, including the G7, the UN Secretary-General, the World Bank, and the OECD, have acknowledged that GDP is insufficient for measuring success and have encouraged the adoption of complementary wealth measurements.

APA

Smith, R., Zoundi, Z., & Bizikova, L. (2022). Engaging Decision-Makers in Moving Beyond GDP and Toward Wealth. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-01/moving-beyond-gdp-toward-wealth.pdf

Chicago

Smith, Rob, Zakaria Zoundi, and Livia Bizikova. Engaging Decision-Makers in Moving Beyond GDP and Toward Wealth. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-01/moving-beyond-gdp-toward-wealth.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Smith |first1=Rob |last2=Zoundi |first2=Zakaria |last3=Bizikova |first3=Livia |title=Engaging Decision-Makers in Moving Beyond GDP and Toward Wealth |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=January 2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-01/moving-beyond-gdp-toward-wealth.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{smith2022engaging, author = {Smith, Rob and Zoundi, Zakaria and Bizikova, Livia}, title = {{Engaging Decision-Makers in Moving Beyond GDP and Toward Wealth}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-01/moving-beyond-gdp-toward-wealth.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }