Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

I stumbled upon this metric in the economy named the genuine progress index (GPI). I explored a little bit to see how it was constructed and what sort of domains it covers. 

The formula to calculate GPI is below, along with a brief explanation of what each component means.

GPI = Cadj + G + W - D - S - E - N

• Cadj = personal consumption with income distribution adjustments
• G = capital growth
• W = unconventional contributions to welfare, such as volunteerism
• D = defensive private spending
• S = activities that negatively impact social capital
• E = costs associated with the deterioration of the environment
• N = activities that negatively impact natural capital

It's important to note that assigning monetary values to non-market goods and services and assessing the impact of social and environmental factors involves a degree of subjectivity. Therefore it is possible that there are some intersubjective variations in GPI calculations.

Assigning Monetary Values in GPI Calculations

Determining the monetary values for non-market goods and services in GPI can be tough. The calculations can be a bit of a puzzle, and economists use several methods to crack it. One way is through market price estimation where economists look at the prices of similar market goods as stand-ins for non-market ones. In cases where there's a direct substitute (or similar good), this is typically the most ideal case.

Economists could also go straight to the source, asking people directly about their preferences or observing consumer behavior in surveys and revealed preference methods. Surveys can often reveal consumer sentiment about the value additions and deductions from any given good.

Another approach to assigning monetary value involves shadow pricing. Shadow pricing happens when we estimate the economic value of non-market goods by looking at the costs or benefits associated with their use or depletion. For instance, think about the cost of environmental degradation or the loss of biodiversity. Even though there may not be a direct economic cost there that contributes to a good, there is still value lost that can be at least tracked, if not measured one way or another.

Last, economists may choose to layer on assumptions when looking at market transactions. They may choose to analyze a price from the lens of what that good's price or cost could be due to non-market factors or how a price is derived from a hedonic pricing angle. For instance, the price of a home may be based on the size of the home, age of the home, or neighborhood. Understanding these factors may attribute value to other comparables, and this strategy can be used across different types of goods.

GPI vs. GDP

GDP increases twice when pollution is created – once upon creation (as a side-effect of some valuable process) and again when the pollution is cleaned up. By contrast, GPI counts the initial pollution as a loss rather than a gain, generally equal to the amount it will cost to clean up later plus the cost of any negative impact the pollution will have in the meantime. Quantifying the costs and benefits of these environmental and social externalities is a difficult task.

By accounting for the costs borne by society as a whole to repair or control pollution and poverty, GPI balances GDP spending against external costs. GPI advocates claim that it can more reliably measure economic progress as it distinguishes between the overall "shift in the 'value basis' of a product, adding its ecological impacts into the equation." 

The relationship between GDP and GPI mimics the relationship between the gross profit and net profit of a company. The net profit is the gross profit minus the costs incurred, while the GPI is the GDP (value of all goods and services produced) minus the environmental and social costs. Accordingly, the GPI will be zero if the financial costs of poverty and pollution equal the financial gains from the production of goods and services, all other factors being constant. The following is from the website investopedia.com

Advantages and Disadvantages of GPI

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) measures the economy holistically by considering economic indicators that the GDP doesn't. For example, it accounts for negative externalities, such as pollution and crime, and other social breakdowns that compromise the economy and the welfare of the people it serves. These events create large societal costs from the resulting damages.

Benefits to society, such as volunteerism, housework, and higher education are significant contributions to society but were largely ignored because they were difficult to quantify.
 And as no consideration is given in exchange for these types of services, they are not included in the GDP. However, to account for their impact on the economy, the GPI prescribes values to each.

Accounting for these activities and events that ordinarily have no assigned values can be problematic. Including them requires values to be assigned, and these values can differ based on who is ascribing them. This level of subjectivity can make it difficult to compare GPIs.

Also, the broad definition of GPI allows for different interpretations and calculations. These inconsistencies can make it difficult to get an accurate accounting of factors and compare GPIs. They also make it difficult for GPI to be adopted as the economic standard of measurement.

Pros

• Includes environmental and social factors not considered in the GDP

• Assigns values to societal contributions, such as volunteering

• Quantifies an overall impact in a single, simple number that may be easier to compare over time

Cons

• Makes it difficult to compare GPIs due to subjectivity

• Allows for different interpretations and calculations due to broad definition

• May result in assumptions (at least for the non-monetary variables)

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Ebola vs. COVID-19: public health lessons from Liberia

There is a plethora of literature, addressing public health policies regarding COVID-19. The following paragraphs are excerpted from an article by Anfaara et al. published in Social Science and Medicine, January 2025

"Like elsewhere in the world, care work is gendered, with women bearing the brunt of caregiving during disease outbreaks or health emergencies. However, in Liberia, we argue that the inadequacies of the health system and past political administrations further exacerbated the care burden on women. While this aligns with our theoretical framework, it is noteworthy that despite both governments (Sirleaf and Weah) representing the elite ruling class in Liberia, our participants seem to credit one administration for being more responsive to disease containment. For instance, our participants perceived the Sirleaf administration's willingness to include grassroots organisations and other major stakeholders in Ebola management as a collective effort and a critical reason for the success of Ebola containment. This is probably because, during the initial crisis stage of Ebola, the Sirleaf administration created the National and County-level Ebola task force to brainstorm and initiate strategies to mitigate the spread of Ebola before the arrival of international support. Women's groups, in particular, were invited to be part of the national Ebola response, and there was regular Ebola messaging and communications from the government during this period; as well, on multiple occasions, Sirleaf called for an "all-hands-on-deck" approach to Ebola containment (WHO, 2015; BBC, 2014). Study participants observed that similar strategies were not fully implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Certainly, the Weah administration implemented some of the post-Ebola disease management strategies to contain COVID-19. These included early surveillance, implementing a state of emergency, and restricting local and international travel (Babalola et al., 2022). Yet, participants perceived the administration's approach to COVID-19 management as unitary due to its exclusion of grassroots community-based groups in its response strategies and the government's promotion of alternative COVID-19 remedies. It is possible that the Weah's administration promotion of an alternative solution to COVID-19 containment (see News Public Trust, 2020) may have undermined vaccine uptake and reinforced conspiracy theories about the disease. This experience is not unique to Liberia; in fact, many studies have shown that leadership by positive examples reinforce scientifically proven disease management strategies while negative examples erode trust (Kutor et al., 2022; Nyenswah et al., 2016)."

 

"Refugees aren’t generalities or stereotypes. They are suffering children with desperate parents struggling to find a better life. And for those who survive the dangerous struggle and enter the U.S., their children are taken away and tortured. . . .

 

Families are being torn apart forever. Intentionally. This is one of the most stark, clear choices a Christian can make: Defend torture of children, or support Christ. You can’t do both. You cannot be a Christian and support what the government is doing to families and children."

Jim Meisner Jr, The US Immigration Crisis is a Test for Christians, Patheos, June 30, 2019 

One wonders how America’s right-wing evangelicals live with their choice to support such inhumane treatment of anyone, much less children, some of whom are babes in arms. It is a most monumental failure of Christian imagination not to realize that their Lord and Savior could never countenance such atrocities. Any Christian leaders who do not actively oppose this onslaught on humanity as a grievous sin against the demands of their faith commit an outrage of unfathomable proportions against the Gospel of Jesus Christ and every canon of decency that we know.

Hendricks, Obery M M. Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (pp. 101-102). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition. 

 Complacency in the face of popular pain breeds demagoguery.

Charles Dunst, Defeating the Dictators 

Another Memorable Night With Pittsburgh Symphony

My wife bought me a ticket for this performance by the PSO.
The program was a fantastic mix, the most notable pieces were the following:

• Carl Maria von Weber: Overture to Der Freischutz (The Marksman)
• Henri Tomasi: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra
• Johann Strauss Jr.: Overture to Die Fledermaus (The Bat)
• Steven Banks: Come As You Are For Tenor Saxophone And String Orchestra

December 1st, 2024

Book Review: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

Former navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin wrote this book inspired by principles of combat to aid personal growth and improve business decisions. The similarities between war zones and daily life challenges are figuratively pictured in literature and movies (and to be perfectly frank it used to appeal to my taste in art/self-improvement genre).  Unsurprisingly, this book (and similar titles) sell so well. But let's get to the crux of the book:

The first-hand narrative of the battle and rules of engagement from the POV of seasoned seals and commanders is interesting and novel. In my opinion, the book is very well-balanced and maneuvers between a military narrative and a business/life lesson narrative. I might have a lot of issues with military functions across the board but I looked at this book purely from an analytical viewpoint, looking at the main subjects such as war, mission, battleground, and enemy as metaphors for daily life challenges. I don't subscribe to war and militaristic mentality, I have consistently and fervently condemned the military solutions globally. Therefore, I felt the book may be pleasantly interpreted as a philosophical lesson from a context that in essence is not pluralistic and progressive.

In brief, the book's flow can be nicely recapped by the titles of eight chapters:

I. Winning the war within: 

II. No bad teams, only bad leaders 

III. Believe

IV. Check the ego

V. Cover and Move

VI. Simple

VII. Prioritize and Execute

VIII. Decentralized command

This is my general overview of the book:

In a nutshell, the leader should take challenges by the scruff of the neck. They should act confidently and responsibly. They should own it (instead of throwing the subordinates under the boss and looking for scapegoats, see Chapter II). This demands stern faith in the project. If this core is well-seated, the sound rippling effect ensues and the whole team/personnel will follow. 

If the goal is the priority, this keeps a lot of toxic egoism in check (Chapter IV), as a wise leader sees the decision-making on the field as not immune to mistakes and off-the-chart over/underestimations. Therefore, the right mentality warrants openness to criticism and think tank-style pooling of ideas. 

Chapters realistically address the limitations of a leader in the real world. Especially in large companies it is impossible to micromanage every minute operation. This demands a leader choose his/her battles wisely and prioritize (Chapter VII). Also, the leader should cultivate a culture of ownership among subordinates and on many occasions, complex missions demand decentralized decision-making. This needs oversight of course but with faith and trust a team can benefit from this distributed leadership (Chapter VIII).

On multiple occasions, the book underlines the similarities between military battlefield and corporate industrial management. The heavy stress on group decisions and shared responsibilities in a collective effort is a key message for those who want to transplant lessons from war zones to their routines in business life.

Extreme Ownership is definitely not a masterpiece. Nevertheless, it is an insightful and pragmatic book with some first-hand stories from the front lines.

Pedram, December 9, 2024

Picture: Jocko Willink

Book Review: Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman

Timely and in-depth assessment of the political terrain.
The huge positive aspect of this book is the detailed and honest account of success in modern autocracies. There are archetypes of successful non-democratic governance: efficiency, infrastructure, education, modern technology, and a ruthless judicial system weeding out corruption.
However, the book still defends democracy as a well-tested method albeit chaotic and (currently) below-par. The book calls for a revision and re-emphasis on democratic values, recognizing human capital, the value of diversity, and providing scholarship and funding for undergraduate and graduate training, especially in technology.

The Stranger by Albert Camus: An Epitome of Absurdism

I reread this novel for the fourth time after a long hiatus. I remember the previous times it flew seamlessly and I liked the fluent narration with a tang of indifferent air. However, on second thought, I felt there were more glitches in the analytical view of the plot and the protagonist's character. This was especially more curious since the author has the kingpin status in 20th-century existentialism. I found it very paradoxical and inconsistent if you want to take notes in existential terms:

The existentialism philosophy seems to redefine human existence with an emphasis on individual responsibility and excluding the metaphysical approach to human problem. The caricaturesque protagonist in The Stranger is anything but an accountable persona who shows awareness or anxiety of those in existential limbo. In other words, this is not a philosophical indifference distilled through soul-searching and spiritual endeavors. Meursault's stance regarding love, family, faith, death, daily life, job, food, sex, hobbies, and even climate (he loves and eventually misses the Mediterranean climate), all picture a plainly simple mindset devoid of perspective. The plot pictures a series of random spontaneous actions that are devoid of meaning from the protagonist's point of view. That is not the existential disdain following epistemic labor routes. 

Meursault decides to give false testimony in support of a corrupt neighbor, passively accepts a marriage offer, and finally commits a murder in a confused haze with no clear intention. All events in the story are lined up with zero conviction. 

In flashbacks and in his mother's words, Meausault is described as a child/adolescent who was able to create happiness for himself, so he is not unhappy. He suffers from an existential anomy but a lazy type of anomy. Philosophy, ethics, faith, social or individual issues are not of interest to him as far as we learn. He is not bound to the truth as well. So it's basically downright flattened spirit as far as character study goes.  

When questioned about his motives for killing the victim, he seriously mentions "the heat/the sun" caused him toward this crime. This is a masterpiece in absurdism but a preload to the existentialism line of thought, Camus pursues in the successive work "The Myth of Sisyphus". The Stranger as a stand-alone work, is a short story of a lost soul in a confused chorea of meaningless actions.  Hard to say it is anything but a sad portrait of confused pointless state of affairs in human life, or at least this is what the author wants to say.