A revelatory and entertaining book about the pitfalls of how we measure our economy and how to correct them, by an award-winning editor of The Financial Times

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2019 'A near miracle' Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism According to the economy, we have never been wealthier or happier. So why doesn’t it feel that way? The Growth Delusion explores how we prioritise growth maximisation without stopping to think about the costs. So much of what is important to our well-being, from safe streets to sound minds, lies outside the purview of statistics. In a book that is both thought-provoking and entertaining, David Pilling argues that our steadfast loyalty to growth is informing misguided policies, and proposes different criteria for measuring our success.

"A welcome antidote to the gospel according to GDP" - Sunday Times

"Excellent. The argument for better ways of measuring prosperity is steadily gathering momentum" - Evening Standard

"A rare beast: a book on economics that is well written, accessible and – whisper it – entertaining! Witty, widely travelled and well-informed, David Pilling is an excellent guide to the pitfalls and shortcomings of GDP and a trenchant exponent of the need to move beyond the ‘cult of growth’" - New Internationalist

"Sharp and engaging ... Pilling argues that gross domestic product (GDP) is an arbitrary, oversimplified human invention that we slavishly follow, and growth is a modern "cult". Like all cults, it requires unquestioning allegiance - in this case the one-decimal-point figure produced by national statisticians every three months. Pilling, who has written about GDP from five continents over 20 years for the FT, started asking questions about the cult and couldn't stop ... Pilling is right that the spell needs to be broken ... Entertaining and well-argued" - The Times

"A surprisingly zippy book that has the potential to take a smart riposte of mindless growth into mainstream debate … Pilling isn’t afraid to make the well-worn criticisms of GDP, and does with clarity and force. But the real beauty of the book is how effortlessly he takes this argument a step further, demonstrating how GDP often makes no sense whatsoever, even taken on its own terms … A wonderful book … A surprisingly addictive page turner, capable of captivating the general reader on a subject known for making eyes glaze over … By injecting a credible dose of ambivalence into common assumptions about GDP he offers a very welcome entry into post-2008 economic writing" - Resurgence Ecologist

"Entertaining and well-argued" - The Week