Vice President JD Vance argues against using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a primary measure of societal health in his new book. He writes that the decline of Christianity has left society without a shared moral language and that economics has stepped into the vacuum, leading society to prioritize economic considerations over other values.

Vance writes that society pretends there are scientific answers to questions of values and is almost blinded to considerations outside of the economic. He notes that intense spiritual misery coexists with economic abundance, writing that Americans have become more disconnected, lonely, and isolated despite achieving historic levels of material comfort.

He states that domestic labor performed by parents is uncounted in measures like GDP if it is unpaid, and suggests that paying a stranger to look after a child contributes more to GDP than a parent doing the same work. Vance also uses the example of Japan to argue that unobserved quality differences in non-traded products make it difficult to compare GDP across countries.

Vance writes that children are bombarded with images and influences that have left them isolated, depressed, and increasingly at risk of self-harm. He discusses the influx of prescription opioids that became a flood of synthetic opioids, which he states have led to tens of thousands of deaths each year and a declining life expectancy among a substantial portion of society.

The Council of Economic Advisers' 2019 report estimated the annual nominal economic cost of the opioid epidemic, including the cost of lives lost, at about $700 billion in 2018. This represented roughly 3.4 percent of GDP in 2018, with the total economic cost from 2015 to 2018 estimated at over $2.5 trillion. In 2023, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia stated there is growing evidence that the opioid epidemic has harmed many aspects of the real economy, including the labor market, consumer finance, and municipal finance.

Vance writes that society orients people toward a life of consumption. He concludes, "Yes. Maybe economics is just fake."

Why It Matters

JD Vance, identified as a leader of the New Right, has published a new book that critiques GDP as a measure of societal wellbeing. His arguments suggest a reframing of economic priorities, connecting them to broader social and moral issues. The book's perspective implies that current economic frameworks may not adequately capture or address societal challenges such as declining life expectancy, addiction rates, and mental health issues, despite economic growth.

His work references the impact of the opioid epidemic, with government reports from the Council of Economic Advisers and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noting its considerable economic costs and effects on various economic sectors. Vance's book suggests that societal focus on GDP as a primary yardstick leads to an oversight of these non-economic factors and their consequences.