What If We Changed How We Measure Progress?

Thoughts inspired by an article by Diane Coyle about the Rebuilding of Economics in the Age of Digitalization and Climate Crisis

When Numbers No Longer Reflect Reality

Since World War II, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been the undisputed benchmark for evaluating economic performance. It measures the wealth created, calculates growth, and ranks nations. But today, this industrial-age production counter no longer captures the complexities of our transformed world.

Why do we still measure progress as we did in the 20th century, when we now live in a dematerialized, interconnected, data-saturated economy, facing unprecedented ecological and social emergencies?

This is the pressing and nuanced question posed by economist Diane Coyle, Professor at the University of Cambridge, a specialist in the digital economy and in how indicators shape public policy. Through her work, she encourages us to rethink what we value, what we measure — and, crucially, what we choose to ignore.

A Digital Economy that Escapes the Radar

We live in a world where a vast share of created value no longer flows through traditional market channels. A search engine, a video platform, or a messaging app provides immense perceived value — but without a visible monetary transaction.

In other words, real individual well-being may increase without GDP rising. Conversely, an ecological disaster can boost national output through emergency spending — thus artificially inflating the notion of national wealth.

Diane Coyle exposes a major paradox: what genuinely improves people’s lives may not count in national accounts, while what harms our collective future may appear as economic growth.

Indicators That Hide Intangible Assets

The digital economy is also an economy of intangibles: data, software, interfaces, brands, reputation, shared knowledge. These “goods” don’t wear out with use, replicate at near-zero marginal cost, and rely more on attention than physical capital.

Yet national accounting still focuses on what can be touched, weighed, or stored. By undervaluing — or ignoring — intangible assets, it distorts business decisions, underestimates real growth, and renders invisible investment in creativity, education, and research.

Coyle therefore calls for a fundamental overhaul of our measurement frameworks. Because, as she aptly notes, “what we don’t count doesn’t exist — and vice versa.”

A Framework That Neglects the Long Term

Another flaw in traditional indicators: their obsession with short-term flows. GDP makes no distinction between useful investment (training teachers) and destructive waste (rebuilding after preventable pollution). It aggregates monetary flows without considering the state of vital stocks — natural, human, or social capital.

Diane Coyle proposes a “national balance sheet” approach, inspired by corporate accounting: tracking the condition of a country’s fundamental resources over time, not just what it “produces.” This would allow us to finally incorporate critical but neglected dimensions: biodiversity loss, social trust, mental health, civic cohesion…

New Data, New Opportunities

Reforming public statistics is not just about rewriting Excel spreadsheets. It involves integrating new measurement tools: big data, satellites, sensors, artificial intelligence. These technologies enable real-time, local, and even qualitative measurements.

Concrete examples:

• Tracking continuous CO₂ emissions via satellite imagery
• Monitoring urban movement patterns to improve mobility
• Assessing public service quality using semantic analysis of citizen feedback

Coyle urges us to leverage these tools to bring economics back into contact with reality, instead of letting it drift into abstract models detached from everyday life.

Progress Is Also a Political Choice

But this transformation is not just a technical shift. It raises fundamental questions about the values we want to place at the heart of society. Measuring well-being, education, sustainability, or collective trust is a political act — whether explicit or implicit.

Diane Coyle doesn’t advocate for a universal truth, but for a pluralistic framework. She supports the creation of composite “dashboards” tailored to local challenges, transparent in their assumptions, and open to democratic debate.

Toward a Meaningful Economy

It is time to ask the real question: What is the purpose of the economy? Is it just an abstract game of numbers, or a tool to organize collective life?

For Diane Coyle, the answer is clear: we must reconnect economics with its ultimate goals — human well-being, ecological sustainability, quality of life.

Changing what we measure means changing what we value. And changing what we value means reshaping our decisions, our institutions, our priorities.

It’s a massive undertaking. But an inspiring one — because it restores meaning to public action, to enterprise, and to citizenship.

What if we dared to look differently?