Thursday 5 August 2010

What is it with journalists in this country?

I have just come across this wonderful piece of economic wisdom from Colin James,
Is it GDP per capita - gross domestic product (GDP, or total output) divided by population? If so, which GDP? Australia averages three different GDPs (production, income and expenditure) for its commonly used figure. New Zealand uses production only for its commonly used figure.
The production, income and expenditure versions of GDP are all the same, they are designed to be! Surely it is not too much to ask for a journalist to actually check the definitions of GDP before talking about it.