The Unassuming Economist

From IISD:

“The recent UN Summit of the Future (SoF) stressed the need to address well-known shortcomings of gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of wealth by developing a framework for measuring sustainable development progress that can complement and go beyond GDP. The need for such measures is widely recognized. The UN Secretary-General has described overreliance on GDP as a “glaring blind spot in how we measure economic prosperity and progress.”  The Pact for the Future – the Summit’s outcome document – specifically identifies the need “to develop recommendations for a limited number of country-owned and universally applicable indicators of sustainable development that complement and go beyond GDP,” taking into account the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In anticipation of growing global efforts to select indicators that move beyond GDP, the SDG Knowledge Hub is providing regular updates on publications on this topic. The authors use databases of agencies and peer-reviewed literature to collect such information.

The first issue of the ‘Beyond GDP’ update series comes in the aftermath of the September 2024 Summit of the Future and covers the period from October through December 2024.

Recommendations for specific indicators and indices to complement GDP performance

The fifth edition of the World Bank’s report on the Changing Wealth of Nations (CWON) themed,  ‘Revisiting the Measurement of Comprehensive Wealth,’ presents a methodology, global CWON estimates, and trends of the assets of the wealth portfolio, including trends on non-renewable natural capital, hydropower, forests and agricultural land, blue natural capital, and human capital. As the report’s authors suggest, the publication is intended for a technical audience, including policy advisors, statisticians, and researchers.”

Continue reading here.

From Minneapolis Fed:

“In 2024, 24 papers were added to the Institute Working Papers series, bringing the total in the series to 108. These papers make use of frontier methods to conduct empirical analysis and build models of economic processes. Institute economists were authors on eight of the new papers in 2024. Two of these papers analyze novel datasets that the authors created and made public. Two others look at the early impact of new labor policies: a guaranteed basic income program and a prohibition on domestic outsourcing.

This summary article provides a brief overview of the main findings of all 24 new additions from 2024.

Labor markets

Artificial intelligence dominated headlines in 2024, offering opportunities and provoking concerns. For workers, one concern is how wages and employment will respond to the current wave of technological innovation. In “New Technologies and Jobs in Europe,” Stefania Albanesi, António Dias da Silva, Juan F. Jimeno, Ana Lamo, and Alena Wabitsch investigate the impact of AI on relative employment and wages by occupation in 16 European countries over the period 2011 to 2019. Their results suggest that the adoption of AI has not been associated with lower aggregate employment in Europe.”

Continue reading here.

From the World Economic Forum:

“The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2025 united more than 3,000 global leaders to tackle technological, economic and climate challenges under the theme “Collaboration in the Intelligent Age”.

For me, as Secretary-General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the gathering served as a powerful opportunity to reinforce the crucial role international standards play in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.

From advancing the responsible use of technology to driving the energy transition and fostering inclusivity, standards provide the trust and shared frameworks needed to unlock progress.

Davos is more than a meeting of minds – it is a catalyst for collective action on the defining challenges of our time: achieving net zero, adapting to climate impacts, harnessing technology responsibly, and ensuring innovation benefits everyone.

The discussions emphasized that by fostering collaboration across sectors and regions, we can truly transform global challenges into opportunities for sustainable and inclusive growth.”

Continue reading here.

From UNDP:

“The European Union (EU) has committed funding of $1 Million to the Africa Facility to Support Inclusive Transitions (AFSIT), a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union Commission (AUC). This funding will advance the development and updating of the Africa Transition Index (ATI) platform, providing African governments with vital data-driven insights to guide their transitions, strengthen governance and promote long-term stability across the continent.

ATI is designed to equip policymakers with the tools they need to make informed decisions that ensure stability and foster sustainable development. By addressing the challenges of governance, AFSIT will support African nations in crafting long-term, inclusive solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.”

Continue reading here.

From The Tribune:

“New Delhi [India], January 19 (ANI): Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday shared insights on his participation at World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025.

The Union Minister highlighted that there will be a detailed discussion on issues ranging from inclusive growth, invetments in social phisical and digital infrastructure to democratising technology.

He pointed out the global interest in India’s approach to economic policy, digital transformation, and the Digital India programme.

He stated, “The Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has put huge focus on inclusive development, and a growth which brings a big transformative change in the lives of the people at the bottom of the pyramid. People who have been left out of development over many decades in the past, whether it is bank accounts, whether it is providing toilets, gas connections, whether it is having tap water connections, getting the basic infrastructure in the or villages done. Infrastructure in the urban areas done. This is something which the world wants to understand.”

“In the World Economic Forum at Davos, there is a lot of interest in understanding our thought process, PM’s economic policy about digital transformation and also the way technology has been democratised by our PM’s Digital India program… There will be detailed discussion in the World Economic Forum about inclusive growth, investment in social, physical and digital infrastructure and democratizing technology,” he added.”

Continue reading here.