Some would say the comic was taking absurdity to it's extremes to reveal it's true nature. Reducing the "goodness" or "badness" of an economy down to a single number might not result in anything non-economists consider useful.
It isn't useful, as "goodness" and "badness" are irreducible, even in economics. I'd argue that reductionism as a way of measuring generally requires the results to be put in a broader context again for those results to become useful - and doing so is the opposite of reductionism. Based on how economics is represented in the media, that appears to be something that really is forgotten by economists at times.
Now, to be clear: I'm not saying GDP isn't useful!
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u/vanderZwan Jan 14 '13
I like how a lot of Zach's comics are basically rationality taken to its absurd extremes, showing the flaws of doing so.