Genuine Progress Indicator
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The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is a tool for measuring human well-being through examining economic, social and environmental matters. The GPI adjusts Gross Domestic Production (GDP) for positive and negative economic, social and environmental contributions to human well-being.[1]
While GPI has been promoted by Demos in the United States, similar tools have been advocated for and tested in other parts of the world. The indicator's intellectual foundations originated in the "beyond GDP" movement and the works of economists Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Herman Daly, among others.[1]
According to Demos, the purpose of GPI and other "beyond GDP" measurements is to influence policymakers. A study issued by the organization states:
| “ | ... how can alternative measures be used to influence policy development, and will changing our measures change our politics as new priorities come to light? In theory, new measures can draw our attention to important problems that are ignored by or poorly reflected in GDP (e.g., much of “what counts for common people’s well-being”), and this information could motivate and help target significant policy changes, budget shifts, etc.[2] | ” |
| —Demos[1] | ||
Implementation
Vermont
Legislation for Vermont's GPI was introduced by Sen. Anthony Pollina (VPP-Washington), passed and signed into law in 2012.[3] The legislation called on the secretary of administration to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics of the University of Vermont "to work in collaboration to establish and test a genuine progress indicator (GPI)."[4]
United States Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supports the implementation of a GPI.[5]
An overview of Vermont's GPI can be found here.
Maryland
In 2009, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) developed an "inter-agency workgroup to explore how government could measure social well-being and develop an alternative metric to traditional economic indicators. The metric's function would be to measure whether or not economic progress results in sustainable prosperity." The workgroup partnered with the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research.[6]
An overview of Maryland's GPI can be found here
Oregon
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1995-2003, 2011-2015 |
Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) |
February 11 story February 13 story Impeachment amendment Recall effort Cylvia Hayes Kate Brown Ellen Rosenblum Governor of Oregon Governor Vacancy process |
Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) expressed interest in GPI in 2012, and he and first lady Cylvia Hayes attended a class taught by Dr. Robert Costanza of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University.[7] Cylvia Hayes, who also acted as a policy advisor to Kitzhaber, explained why the governor's office is interested in GPI:
| “ | You can’t effectively govern a state in a two-year biennial budget cycle… As a person in the sustainable development field you have two problems. One is, we’re measuring the wrong thing, and two, you’re measuring things on such a short time horizon that you can’t actually see the full costs and benefits of policy decisions. So we’re integrating the GPI with a ten-year budget plan outcomes metric and then begin to make explicit what our policy and state budget decisions will mean to all three capital accounts (our physical capital, human capital and environmental capital)... The intent in Oregon is to use the GPI to craft the state budget.[2] | ” |
| —Cylvia Hayes[5] | ||
Noteworthy events
According to a report in The Oregonian, the issue of implementing a GPI in Oregon became wrapped up in a conflict of interest controversy surrounding Kitzhaber and his fiancee Cylvia Hayes. On February 6, 2015, the Oregon Department of Administrative Services released emails between Hayes, Kitzhaber and department director Michael Jordan regarding the GPI. These emails sent between April 2013 and April 2014 revealed Hayes's close involvement in implementing the policy. Hayes was under contract with Demos, a New York-based think tank, from June to November 2013. Hayes sent an email to Jordan requesting a meeting on May 13, 2013, to discuss challenges for GPI, only three days after signing a contract with Demos. An email from October 30, 2013, requested $125,000 to launch GPI and listed Hayes and Demos among the "Oregon GPI Team."[8]
Emails from the same period reportedly showed Kitzhaber's efforts to hire Sean McGuire, an advisor under contract with Demos. McGuire had previously worked with Demos to install the GPI, a measurement of economic progress that takes into account well-being and productivity, in Maryland. On December 30, 2013, Kitzhaber lobbied Jordan to hire McGuire, indicating that he was the "best person to do this work...and we need to find a way to bring him on." McGuire was hired in spring 2014 for a one-year contract totaling $65,000, though Jordan downplayed suggestions that Kitzhaber pressured him into the decision.[8]
The Los Angeles Times reported that this issue was but one in the ongoing scandal that led Kitzhaber to announce his resignation from office on February 13, 2015.[9]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Genuine + Progress + Indicator"
See also
Additional reading
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Demos, "Beyond GDP: New Measures for a New Economy," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Vermont Legislature, "S.237 (Act 113)," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ Vermont Legislature, "No. 113. An act relating to the genuine progress indicator," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Demos, "Implementing GPI in Vermont, Maryland and Oregon," February 5, 2014
- ↑ Maryland Department of Natural Resources, "MD-GPI Background & Methodology," accessed February 12, 2015
- ↑ The Oregonian, "How happy is Oregon? Governor Kitzhaber joins Portland State University class that aims to find out," April 16, 2012
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Oregonian, "John Kitzhaber controversy: Cylvia Hayes directed state officials on policy she was being paid to promote, emails show," February 6, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber resigns amid ethics investigations," February 13, 2015
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