Economy 4.0

Measuring the Economy with Underwear and Puppies

Stan Alcorn Oct 12, 2011

One of the great things about the economy is that it’s quantifiable. You can measure stuff like gross domestic product and retail sales. But really, could that be more boring? Who can get excited about leading economic indicators? Seems to us what we need are some good offbeat alternatives. Some trend that’ll give us some context about what’s happening that straight statistics don’t.

Listen to David Brancaccio talk alternative indicators on Marketplace:

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.