It is would be interesting to know how much GDP figures are skewered by a large service sector.
For instance if you go out to a Restaurant and spend £100 on a meal, then that £100 becomes part of the GDP figures. If on the other hand you eat the very same meal at home then there's nothing added to GDP at all. Soo...in places like the US where everyone seems to eat out all the time, the GDP figures are going to be a lot higher than in countries where people cook for themselves. Therefore a large part of the GDP figures simply don't measure genuine economic strength: merely service sector money cycling.
Also as I've mentioned before, imagine if GDP as originally intended, actually treated those activities detrimental to human well-being as negatives: Arms manufacturing, Financial speculation, Advertising...
-Whole different story.
It still astounds me that the western powers thought they could trounce the Russian economy through financial fuckaboutery when the underlying strength of Russia is so obviously it's self sufficiency in the basics: oil, coal, gas, timber, wheat, cooking oil...
Re: Simplicius: Russia Officially Becomes World's 4th Largest Economy, Passing Japan
"Is there any evidence that this is what happens in the USA, as in eating out?"
According to data published by catering industry specialists Gira, frequency per week is:
1. Spain (4.3 times)
2. Canada (3.8 times)
3. USA (3.6 times)
4. Italy (3.4 times)
5. China (2.6 times)
6. France (2 times)
7. United Arab Emirates (2 times)
8. UK (1.6 times)
9. Germany (1.1 times)
10. India (1.1 times)
On cost biggest three spenders are apparently:
Spain US$1,931, the US US$1,820 and UAE US$1,584
So yea, that puts them near the top.
As an aside GDP will also be added to by "Take-aways"...I'm not sure if these figures include that as "eating out". If not there's another substantual proportion uncounted.
on June 10, 2024, 12:45 pm