Diane Coyle

For nearly a century, GDP has been the world’s go-to measure of economic success—but what if it’s been telling us the wrong story? It treats cigarette sales and cancer treatments as equally “good” for the economy, while caring for your kids, volunteering, or creating art don’t count at all. This week, economist Diane Coyle joins Nick and Goldy to discuss her new book, The Measure of Progress , and explain why GDP increasingly fails to capture the reality of modern economies—and how we can measure real progress instead. Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is also the Research Director at the Bennett School of Public Policy, a member of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Council, and author of the new book, The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters . Social Media: @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social @DianeCoyle1859 Further reading: The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters Beyond GDP? Welfare across Countries and Time The Economics of Care with Nancy Folbre Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon , @NickHanauer , @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch

Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is the Research Director at the Bennett School of Public Policy. Diane's latest book is 'The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters'. Her own research focuses on productivity, the digital economy and AI policy, and economic measurement. She has been writing about the effects of digital technologies since her first book, 'The Weightless World', in 1997. Diane is currently a member of the UK Government's Industrial Strategy Council, the New Towns Taskforce, and advises the Competition and Markets Authority. She has served previously in a number of public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, and of the Natural Capital Committee. Diane was awarded a DBE in 2023 for her contribution to economics and public policy. In this podcast we discuss the inadequacy of GDP measurement, missing the digital economy; dealing with free digital services, how to measure productivity in services, and much more. Follow us here for more amazing insights: https://macrohive.com/home-prime/ https://twitter.com/Macro_Hive https://www.linkedin.com/company/macro-hive

What if our most trusted economic statistic is pointing us in the wrong direction? Diane Coyle joins Kevin Coldiron to explore why GDP - long treated as a proxy for progress - now obscures more than it reveals. As economies shift toward services, intangibles, and unpaid digital labor, much of today’s value creation falls outside the frame. Drawing on her new book, The Measure of Progress, Coyle makes the case for a new way of seeing - one that captures time, trust, and the real foundations of growth. The question isn’t how fast we’re moving. It’s whether we’re measuring the right road. IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com Follow Niels & Kevin on Twitter: @TopTradersLive & @kcold1 And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

What if our most trusted economic statistic is pointing us in the wrong direction? Diane Coyle joins Kevin Coldiron to explore why GDP - long treated as a proxy for progress - now obscures more than it reveals. As economies shift toward services, intangibles, and unpaid digital labor, much of today’s value creation falls outside the frame. Drawing on her new book, The Measure of Progress , Coyle makes the case for a new way of seeing - one that captures time, trust, and the real foundations of growth. The question isn’t how fast we’re moving. It’s whether we’re measuring the right road. ----- 50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE ----- Follow Niels on Twitter , LinkedIn , YouTube or via the TTU website . IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here . And you can get a free copy of my latest book “ Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio ” here . Learn more about the Trend Barometer here . Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast. Follow Kevin on SubStack & read his Book . Follow Diane on X and read her book. Episode TimeStamps: 02:19 - Introduction to Diane Coyle 03:55 - How did the current systems of national accounts came to be? 06:55 - Why the national statistics doesn't add up 11:22 - The underlying problems of GDP 18:42 - How software pose a problem for measuring GDP and economic activity 23:25 - The challenges of cloud computing 26:39 - What is disintermediation and why is it a problem for economic statistics? 33:35 - The impo

This episode explores new insights into the productivity puzzle from two fresh pieces of work. First, Diane Coyle discusses her book The Measure of Progress, explaining why what we measure is profoundly important but increasingly difficult. Then, Jan Mischke from the McKinsey Global Institute shares a striking finding from their report The Power of One: a relatively small number of "standout firms" deliver a very big share of a country's productivity growth. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. Jan Mischke, Partner at McKinsey Global Institute. For more information on the topic: Diane Coyle (2025), The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Princeton University Press. Jan Mischke et al. (2025), The power of one: How standout firms grow national productivity, McKinsey Global Institute May. Kate Barker (2025), Review of The Measure of Progress, The Society of Professional Economists, 14 April. McKinsey Global Institute (2025), Online summary of The Power of One. The Productivity Institute (2023), The Productivity Agenda. A blueprint for boosting the UK’s productivity. The Productivity Institute (2024), Productivity Primer. Why productivity matters for the economy, business and places. Diane Coyle and Leonard Nakamura (2021), Time Use, Productivity, and Household-Centric Measurement of Welfare in the Digital Economy, The International Productivity Monitor. Diane Coyle (1999), The Weightless World: Strategies for Managing the Digital Economy, MIT Press. Diane Coyle (2021), Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be, Princeton University Press. Zvi Griliches, Productivity, R&D, and the Data Constraint, The American Economic Review Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar., 1994), pp. 1-23. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

In The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters , Dame Diane Coyle argues that traditional measures like GDP no longer capture economic realities. Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is also the director of the Productivity Institute, a fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and a member of the UK’s Competition Commission. Drawing on her deep expertise, she proposes an alternative framework for measuring productivity that enables better policymaking. In her conversation with Nikolaus Lang, global leader of the BCG Henderson Institute, she discusses the shortcomings of GDP—such as a lack of accounting for immaterial goods or natural capital, alternative measures of progress, and how corporate leaders should rethink their approach to measurement. Key topics discussed: 01:32 | The shortcomings of GDP as a measure of productivity 09:14 | The issues of inflated GDP statements 11:12 | Alternative measures of productivity and progress 13:47 | A time-based approach to measuring productivity 16:39 | How productivity measurement works in practice 18:57 | Implications for corporate leaders Additional inspirations from Diane Coyle: Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be (Princeton University Press, 2021) GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History (Princeton University Press, 2015) The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters (Princeton University Press, 2009) Sex, Drugs and Economics: An Unconventional Intro to Economics (Texere, 2002)

How to measure the good life? According to Cambridge University’s Professor of Public Policy, Diane Coyle, quantifying progress doesn’t involve traditional economic metrics. In her new book, Measure of Progress , Coyle discusses how economic metrics like GDP, designed 80 years ago, are increasingly inadequate for measuring today's complex economy. She argues we need new approaches that account for digital transformation, supply chains, and long-term sustainability. Coyle suggests developing human-centric balance sheet measures that reflect true progress beyond simple growth numbers. Five Key Takeaways * Economic metrics like GDP were developed 80 years ago and are increasingly outdated for measuring today's complex digital economy with global supply chains. * We lack adequate tools to measure crucial modern economic factors such as data usage, cloud services, and cross-border supply chains. * Economic statistics have always been political in nature, from their historical origins to present debates about what counts as progress. * Coyle advocates for a "balance sheet" approach that considers long-term sustainability of resources rather than just short-term growth figures. * While productivity growth has slowed for many middle-income families over the past 20 years, Coyle rejects "degrowth" approaches, arguing instead for better metrics that capture true progress in living standards. Professor Dame Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Diane co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. Her latest book is ' Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be ’, exploring the challenges for economics particularly in the context of digital transformation. Her current research focuses on productivity and on economic measurement: what does it mean for economic policy to make the world ‘better’, and how would we know if it succeeds?Diane is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission. She has served in public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, of the Migration Advisory Committee and of the Natural Capital Committee. Diane was Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester until March 2018 and was awarded a DBE for her contribution to economic policy in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours. Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

#ads Stream any unabridged audiobook of your choice with premium access by starting your trial on: https://booksreader.space/al-2028/ Title: The Measure of Progress Author: Diane Coyle Narrator: Harrie Dobby Format: mp3 Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins Release date: 04-01-25 Ratings: Not rated yet Genres: Economic Policy Publisher's Summary: The ways that statisticians and governments measure the economy were developed in the 1940s, when the urgent economic problems were entirely different from those of today. In The Measure of Progress, Diane Coyle argues that the framework underpinning today's economic statistics is so outdated that it functions as a distorting lens, or even a set of blinkers. When policymakers rely on such an antiquated conceptual tool, how can they measure, understand, and respond with any precision to what is happening in today's digital economy?

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/154079 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Measure of Progress Author: Diane Coyle Narrator: Harrie Dobby Format: mp3 Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins Release date: 04-01-25 Ratings: Not rated yet Genres: Economic Policy Publisher's Summary: The ways that statisticians and governments measure the economy were developed in the 1940s, when the urgent economic problems were entirely different from those of today. In The Measure of Progress, Diane Coyle argues that the framework underpinning today's economic statistics is so outdated that it functions as a distorting lens, or even a set of blinkers. When policymakers rely on such an antiquated conceptual tool, how can they measure, understand, and respond with any precision to what is happening in today's digital economy?

Filippo Gaddo, Managing Director at MAP and SPE member, held a discussion with Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, on the future of productivity, what are the key drivers and obstacles going forward and how we could find a better way to measure progress and flourishing. During the interview, Diane expressed her concerns about the slowdown of productivity over the past couple of decades – particularly in the UK – and the low level of investment and lack of spending on infrastructure that could hamper a return to higher levels of productivity. Nonetheless, Diane remains positive and optimistic and see opportunities in new technological development not only in Generative AI but also in bio-medicine, new materials and energy transition. The conversation also discussed on the role of policy in developing an environment that could help reduce the inequality in performance between ‘superstars’ companies and workers and the average firm and people. Towards the end of the interview Filippo and Diane explored ideas and initiatives around different and new metrics to measure progress and prosperity beyond ‘material’ GDP, that includes natural capital, human capital, social capital and life satisfaction. As the current metrics for GDP took time to develop through national accounts, there is hope and a good chance that in a few years these new measures will be used as extensively in public and private decision making. The Bennett Institute is doing excellent work in this space and the work of Charles Jones and Peter Klenow is also mentioned http://klenow.com/Jones_Klenow.pdf . Professor Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Diane co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. Her latest book is ‘ Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be ’, exploring the challenges for economics particularly in the context of digital transformation. Her current research focuses on productivity and on economic measurement: what does it mean for economic policy to make the world ‘better’, and how would we know if it succeeds? Diane is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission. Diane was Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester until March 2018 and was awarded a DBE for her contribution to economic policy in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.

What's happened to our economy and what does it mean for our health? Many developed economies have been growing more slowly since around 2008, but the UK economy has been struggling more than most. Wages haven't risen since 2008 leaving the average worker £14,000 worse off. Productivity growth – vital to rising living standards – has stalled. Regional inequalities are unusually large, and economic hardship is widespread with 2.8 million people reporting not working because of long-term sickness. So what’s driving this economic stagnation, how is it connected to our health, and what can politicians do to address the challenges? To discuss, our Chief Executive Jennifer Dixon is joined by: Diane Coyle , Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and Co-Director of the Bennett Institute. Torsten Bell , Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation. Show notes The Health Foundation (2023). The unsustainable is not sustained: why productivity is fundamental to the future of the NHS . The Resolution Foundation (2023). Ending stagnation: a new economic strategy for Britain . The Health Foundation (2023). What we know about the UK’s working-age health challenge . Coyle D and Muhtar A (2022). Contemporary Social Science . Levelling up policies and the failure to learn . Bennett Institute for Public Policy (2023). A Universal Basic Infrastructure for the UK . The Resolution Foundation (2024) (funded by the Health Foundation). We’ve only just begun: action to improve young people’s mental health, education and employment .

On this week’s episode of the Governance Podcast, Mark Pennington, the Director at the Study of Governance and Society here at King College London, interviews Professor Diane Coyle. This episode is titled "The data that is and that data the isn't: the pitfalls of using big data", and discusses the various uses and implications of big data in society, and the many pitfalls that may arise. The Conversation ‘Big Data’ fuels AI models like ChatGPT and the machine learning systems that are generating much debate about their promise – and peril – for decision-making. The impact of the technology will depend on the character of the data used. While the issue of data bias is well-understood (although not solved), less attention has been paid to other aspects such as data quality (is the data an accurate measure of the underlying object?), missing data (do we have only part of the picture?), and the meaning of data (how are the underlying concepts represented by the data constructed and interpreted)? As AI models are advancing fast enough to be deployed increasingly widely in society, there is a pressing need to reflect on the perspective on our social world created for them through the data on which they are trained and updated. The Guest Professor Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Diane co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. Her latest book is ‘Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be‘ on how economics needs to change to keep pace with the twenty-first century and the digital economy. Diane is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission, and Senior Independent Member of the ESRC Council. She has served in public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, of the Migration Advisory Committee and of the Natural Capital Committee. Diane was Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester until March 2018 and was awarded a CBE for her contribution to the public understanding of economics in the 2018 New Year Honours.