Even the Inventor of GDP Statistics Knew Government Spending Was Dubious

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Tags: Other Schools of Thought, U.S. Economy

03/30/2025 Robert P. Murphy Patrick Newman

Patrick Newman joins Bob to discuss one of his talks at the Austrian Economics Research Conference (AERC), where he explained that Simon Kuznets–who developed the method of calculating GNP and GDP statistics–had serious doubts about how to include government expenditures.

Patrick’s Talk at the 2025 AERC: Mises.org/HAP493a
Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/HAP493b
Bob’s 2014 Talk on the Great Depression: Mises.org/HAP493c

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

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