what are some critiques of using gdp 
many economists have argued that gdp should not be used as a proxy for overall economic success as it does not account for the informal economy does not count care work or domestic labor in the home ignores business to business activity and counts costs and wastes as economic activity among other shortcomings the bottom linereal gdp is an economic metric that is used to describe the economic output of a country within a specific year it reflects the value of all goods and services produced while factoring inflation into its calculation you may often hear it referred to by other names such as constant price gdp or inflation corrected gdp this is in contrast to nominal gdp this metric uses current prices to measure the output for goods and services 