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Comment by griffzhowl | Hacker News Reader

Isn't GDP a particularly bad indicator for a society that's largely subsistence agriculture? They grow things and then eat them - does that even figure into GDP?

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Subsistence farming, while possibly not counted in GDP, is an explanation why people don't starve to death. It's not really an argument that the country is doing "better than it seems", unless your baseline is famine.

No, but it's a reason that changes to the standard economic indicators won't give you as much of an insight into changes to people's quality of life.

If the thing that drives your quality of life is subsistence farming then your quality of life is terrible.

No human except monks would choose such a life.

Maybe, maybe not. The point is that the GDP of the country you're in going up or down is a somewhat abstract and irrelevant concern for a subsistence farmer

I think it's possible that some of them have beautiful lives anyway, but tough, no doubt. I've been to some similar villages in Ladakh

is the more accurate baseline having food, 3 mortgages, a new phone and a laptop?

Heating and air conditioning, a comfortable apartment, being able to travel, health care to live long enough to see your kids grow old. Food that's cheap enough, so you always have something healthy and tasty to eat when you are hungry.

A pool in the garden is pretty fun on summer days, I imagine! It's cool to see the Niagara Falls, or the Norwegian fjords. Or visit a friend in a foreign country!

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