Martha Nussbaum on Creating Capabilities and GDP

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2014

⏱️ 61 minutes

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Summary

Martha Nussbaum of the University of Chicago and author of Creating Capabilities talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about an alternative to GDP for measuring economic performance at the national level. She is a proponent of the capabilities approach that emphasizes how easily individuals can acquire skills and use them, as well as the capability to live long and enjoy life. Nussbaum argues that government policy should focus on creating capabilities rather than allowing them to emerge through individual choices and civil society.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.3	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.3	back to 2006.
0:25.4	For email address ismailodycontalk.org.
0:27.9	We'd love to hear from you.
0:32.2	Today is September 8, 2014, and my guest is Martha Nussbaum.
0:37.0	The Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics appointed in the Philosophy
0:41.4	Department and the Law School at the University of Chicago.
0:45.3	She's the author of many books, including Creating Capabilities, the Human Development
0:49.3	Approach, which is the subject of today's episode.
0:51.6	Martha, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:53.6	Hi, Russ.
0:54.6	It's very good of you to have me on your program.
0:57.1	Now, in your book, you criticize Gross Domestic Product GDP, which is a standard measure
1:02.2	of national progress and comparison to other countries.
1:07.6	What's wrong with GDP?
1:09.1	Okay.
1:10.1	Well, first of all, even if we want a measure that's a single number, and I'm not going to
1:15.4	agree with that in a minute, it's far from clear that GDP is a number of people who
	...

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