Friday 3 January 2014

What is GDP?-VRK100-03Jan2014




GDP is one of the great inventions of the 20th century. It is the single most important number that is used by all economic agents to compare the economic strengths of nations. It is exactly 80 years since the term ‘GDP’ was coined by Nobel laureate Simon Kuznets, who was a Russian-American economist.

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. It is the total value of all goods produced and services provided within a country. As a single number, GDP reflects the overall economic activity in a country. The GDP numbers are expressed in real (after inflation) terms. The GDP figures are revealed every quarter by the government authorities after compiling the national accounts.

Of course, there are skeptics who question the validity of using GDP to measure the well-being of a nation. Let us talk about that in a later post. For the time being, let us be ‘happy’ with this GDP figure!

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Disclaimer: The author is an investment analyst, equity investor and freelance writer. This write-up is for information purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. He blogs at:



Connect with him on twitter @vrk100


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