> We measure resources by using per capita gross domestic product – the amount of money in a country evenly divided among its entire population.

GDP is not "the amount of money in a country".

GDP is the monetary value of goods and services produced within a country during a given period (a flow, measured in dollars-per-year).

The amount of money in a country is a measure at a point in a time (a stock, measured in dollars).

I realize Fortune magazine isn't The Economist, but I'd still expect PhDs in political science opining on economic topics to at least understand the difference between stocks and flows.

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jibal 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That text is linked to a graph where the X axis is years.

	▲	sokoloff an hour ago \| parent [-]
		“The first is an apple and the second is an orange.” “The first is linked to something showing the author knows it’s an apple.” “Agreed.”

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pydry 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

it's not that either. it's the total value of all transactions.

if you paint a masterpiece worth millions and keep it in your closet it has negligible impact on GDP. only once it is sold does it have an effect.

	▲	stefanfisk 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		And on the contrary, there’s this method of increasing GDP. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37395566
	▲	PaulKeeble 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		And if its sold 5 times in the year its 5x the GDP. Of course the value of the painting hasn't changed and their remains only 1.

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throwaway27448 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Also a great number of those services are valueless bullshit. It's much closer to the sum of all transactions.