The Measure of Progress with Diane Coyle

Thinkers & Ideas

In The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Dame Diane Coyle argues that traditional measures like GDP no longer capture economic realities.

Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is also the director of the Productivity Institute, a fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and a member of the UK’s Competition Commission. Drawing on her deep expertise, she proposes an alternative framework for measuring productivity that enables better policymaking.

In her conversation with Nikolaus Lang, global leader of the BCG Henderson Institute, she discusses the shortcomings of GDP—such as a lack of accounting for immaterial goods or natural capital, alternative measures of progress, and how corporate leaders should rethink their approach to measurement.

Key topics discussed:

01:32 | The shortcomings of GDP as a measure of productivity

09:14 | The issues of inflated GDP statements

11:12 | Alternative measures of productivity and progress

13:47 | A time-based approach to measuring productivity

16:39 | How productivity measurement works in practice

18:57 | Implications for corporate leaders

Additional inspirations from Diane Coyle:

• Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be (Princeton University Press, 2021)
• GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History (Princeton University Press, 2015)
• The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters (Princeton University Press, 2009)
• Sex, Drugs and Economics: An Unconventional Intro to Economics (Texere, 2002)