The Chilean Association for the Promotion of the Economy for the Common Good has left its mark on the current Constitutional Convention in Chile, by proposing that the new constitution complements the use of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a performance tool for the national economy. The Chilean ECG Association proposes integrating the measurement of social and environmental factors that can account for and evaluate the level of well-being and good living of the nation’s inhabitants.
The project proposes to advance towards a National Common Good Product (NCGP) through the “Common Good Balance Sheet” as one of the possible mechanisms for measuring economic success, both at company and state level. This proposal is in complete harmony with the necessary changes that are underway in Chile, especially since 2019, a year marked by massive popular protests. The initiative states that “In Chile and in the world, what really matters (human well-being) is not being measured today, but rather the quantification of the medium (production value, profits or active workforce) has been prioritized over the citizens’ quality of life. The GDP does not indicate if a country is at war, if there is child exploitation, economic inequality or if what has been produced has caused environmental damage.”
The project presented by the Chilean ECG Association looks to take charge of something that was already made clear by the US American president Robert Kennedy when he stated that “The Gross Domestic Product measures everything except that which is worthwhile.” It is time, then, to take charge of what does matter: the harmony between human development, the ecosystem and the construction of a just society.
Read and support the initiative in Spanish.
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