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That’s debatable. There are a number of ways to calculate GDP. One is the sum of value added, as in the value of the end product minus the value of input. Another is the total sum of income from labor and assets. Since it includes time spent it is not really net profit but it’s not turnover either. It’s some hybrid but, I would say it is closer to net profit.

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Quite a funny hybrid indeed: if I pay you to take my money, and you pay me to take your money, somehow GDP would have increased.

It's a measure of economic activity (of which our little give-and-take game would be an example) and it is meaningful under the assumption that all that activity happens for more rational reasons than just trolling economists. Note that our little give-and-take game would be a very expensive example of such trolling, if somehow the tax-man got involved.

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