NPR.

For the second quarter in a row, economic growth in the US has declined.

That is according to a preliminary estimate released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

It says gross domestic product GDP declined by an annualized rate of 0.9% and now the

debate begins for real.

Are we in a recession?

Some are saying yes, we have had two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Others are like no way, it is not a recession yet.

At the center of this debate is this indicator, this number, good old fashioned GDP, gross

domestic product. But there is also a problem with GDP. It is just one number. A single

number that tells us the total size of the economy and that number misses a lot.

This is the indicator from planet money. I am Greg Grzyski and I am Adrian Mah. Today

on the show, a team of economists wants to revolutionize the way the government measures

the economy.

They imagine a new kind of GDP, one that isn't merely a single number telling us about

total economic growth, but a collection of numbers telling us where the gains from

that growth are flowing. And pretty cool, they already have a working prototype.

And to put it in terms that translate to audio, you can think of classic GDP as a simple

melody, one note at a time.

By contrast, you can think of the new GDP prototype as something like a core progression.

It's GDP, the remix. In the early 1930s, the US economy was still facing this nightmare,

known as the Great Depression.

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