When was GDP first used?

Dear editor

In a Dec. 9 article titled “Korean workers hardworking but inefficient,” there appeared to be an error about the gross domestic product when the reporter quoted some critics of the GDP by pointing out that the measure was “first adopted for military use during the Cold War, as economic output reflected a country’s capability of supporting wars.”

While I myself have been very skeptical of “the usefulness of GDP in measuring wealth, quality and efficiency of the economy” as well and there have been numerous attempts to replace it with more relevant and proper alternatives to little avail ― I suspect this is because the use of it has been deeply politically motivated to some extent ― I highly doubt that it was “first adopted” during the Cold War.

In a book titled “the European Dream” written by Jeremy Rifkin, he noted on pages 72-73 that the GDP was created by the U.S. Commerce Department at the height of the Depression in the 1930s and used first as a gauge for production capacity during World War II and the man who invented the GDP, Simon Kuznets ― he later went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1971 for his accomplishment ― warned in his first report to the U.S. Congress back in 1934 that “the welfare of a nation” can “scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income.”

Other than the said book I referred to, I personally surfed online for further information on the matter to verify my observation and it seemed clear to me that the GDP was first used at least before the Cold War broke out.

Kim Byoung-nam

Jeonju, North Jeolla Province