Accounting for Whom? (Marilyn Waring vs. the GDP )

Marilyn Waring, former chair of the Public Expenditures Committee of New Zealand’s Parliament, asserts and documents that the UN-prescribed system of international accounts was designed to justify expenditures on war, that it serves weapons manufacturers very well, and has severe deficiencies as a set of decision-making statistics for governance. She gives examples from various countries of the perverse results of using money annually spent as the only measure of value and national success and taking no notice of other human activity or environmental conditions.

Marilyn Waring’s most famous book is “If Women Counted.” She has a doctorate in Political Economy, and continues to mount international campaigns against the GDP.

Audio documentary is by Maria Gilardin of TUC Radio, based on the 1996 documentary film Who’s Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics, produced by Canadian filmmaker Terre Nash and now available to view at nfb.ca . This program has been adapted for WINGS by Frieda Werden.

WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service has been covering the global women’s movement and related issues for community radio since 1986. Contact: [email protected]

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