Meaningful and Human Economy

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

Remarks of Robert F. Kennedy at the University of Kansas, March 18, 1968 More than forty years ago during the famous speech at the University of Kansas at Lawrence on Gross National Product, Bob Kennedy pointed out the limits and the dangers of an economic vision which does not consider what really matters and what really counts in terms of human prosperity.