https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-r...
Of course it's "economic activity". But if I sublet to someone that sublets to someone that sublets to someone that lives in an apartment, that's a 4x increase in money flow but there's no production of goods or services at all.
It makes sense to have the cost of building and maintaining homes represented somewhere, but rent is a poor proxy for that.
Right, which is why the insult in the post I quoted is getting things very wrong.
> GDP only considers the value of the final consumed goods and services, and rent is a consumed service. If you're a homeowner, they estimate your rent and use that instead.
I understand that but it's a notably flawed way of going about it. Prices in general can have a loose coupling to value but with rent it's extra bad. A small change in housing stock can trigger a massive swing in rent and GDP even though the service being delivered doesn't change.
How can a smart, presumably educated person not know that rent counts as economic activity?
To say the world is poorer than in 2008 is just utterly preposterous.
Per capita GPD in China went from 3500 to 12500. India 1000 to 2200.
There is half the world. US, Canada and Europe is only 15% of the population but I don't know how the case can be made we are poorer than in 2008 either.