This paper considers the importance of measurement in complex societies and notes that the concept of measuring macroeconomic variables such as GDP was grounded in the impact of the 1929 Wall Street Crash on America. Simon Kuznets, a Harvard economist, produced a report for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) which was published in 1934. Despite warnings of the limitations of GDP, its use has expanded to include government expenditures while to Kuznets government activities were an intermediate service and not part of final output. This paper considers particular inadequacies in using GDP as a measure of welfare when it includes, prison funding, natural disaster relief or expenditure on big sports events. The paper also argues that we should move beyond GDP while still recognizing its benefits as an organized methodology. Climate change, environmental disasters and international terrorism, transcend the assumption that economic growth is all we need. It concludes that an index capable of measuring social progress, independent from economic activity is needed.

Youth unemployment has become an ever increasing serious socio-economic problem, which deserves far more attention that it has so far received. In this article, we examine the causes of this issue. They include 1) countries losing the ability to compete effectively and therefore cannot create high-quality jobs, 2) inflexible labour markets that prevent young people from being hired, 3) many young labourers prefer not to work (hard), and 4) mismatch of skills and employers’ needs. We urge governments to take decisive and fast actions to combat this problem before it turns itself into a major crisis.