Demonstrations against the austerity policy imposed by Europe, Portugal, June 2010.
© Theodor Barth/LAIF-REA
The economy between crises, growth and sustainable development
This last sequence introduces the major indicators of the state of the economy, namely, GDP, growth, inflation, value added, etc. The aim is to explain how these indicators are built and to grasp their limits in terms of gauging the health of an economy and the well-being of individuals.
By discovering past crises, which can serve as reference points in considering the current period, you will understand how a financial crisis can impact on all sectors of the economy.
At the end of this sequence, you will be faced with the latest questions relating to the state of the global economy: is GDP a good indicator of the well-being of populations? How can growth and sustainable development be reconciled?
To discover online
Economists' viewpoints
These four videos show intersecting interviews with seven members of the exhibition's scientific committee, revealing their diverse opinions on the themes of the crisis, growth as a source of happiness, the limits of growth and the role of economists in society.
- Crises: why do they keep occurring?
- Economists: what role do they play in society?
- Does growth make people happy?
- Should growth be limited?
Choose your indicator
GDP measures the flow of wealth in a country but tells us nothing about its distribution, the health or educational level of its population nor the environmental consequences of growth.
This multimedia exhibit allows you to classify the countries in the world by their GDP, per capita GDP and Human Development Index (HDI), and to create your own indicator based on data available to the UNDP.
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