Measuring Prosperity Inclusively and Sustainably

This Policy Brief advocates a thorough shift for the G20 from reliance on GDP as an economic yardstick of national performance and conventional measures of corporate profits as a basis of business performance. It proposes a consistent ethical approach to measurement of national and business performance that combines social prosperity and environmental sustainability into both. The SAGE (Solidarity, Agency, material Gain, and Environmental performance) provides an ethical context of prosperity’s multidimensionality. It creates a system for ethical measurement at national and corporate levels and equips policymakers and business practitioners with the tools to confront collective G20 challenges. SAGE can be measured both as flows and stocks, the latter being an extension of the comprehensive wealth framework. We propose establishing International, National, and Corporate Accounting (INCA) standards that ensure stable and ethical prosperity evaluation across G20 states and businesses. The SAGE dashboard assesses national and business impacts on individuals, societies, and the natural world, which neither GDP nor business profits on their own can do.