"Washington County State Senator Anthony Pollina says Vermont needs a new way to measure the strength of our economy, one that better reflects what people are really experiencing.

He will introduce a proposal to have Vermont use a Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) to calculate “how our economy is really doing, how our families are doing and how our environment is doing.” It would supplement the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as Vermont’s measure of economic growth.

Pollina says the GDP is “clearly out of touch with economic reality; “It measures production and consumption, it doesn’t tell us who is doing the consuming, where the wealth is or how growth is impacting families or the environment.”

. . . A Genuine Progress Indicator – GPI – will do it. Maryland uses a GPI tracking 26 indicators and the GUND Institute at UVM is a leader in developing GPI. It can all be measured with available data and surveys of Vermonters to see how people are experiencing our economy. For accountability the GPI would be on-line. So clicking on “green jobs” or “wealth inequality” shows a definition and what policymakers are doing about it."

Read the entire press release.