During a 2008 discussion of the global financial crisis at the London School of Economics, Queen Elizabeth II famously floored a room full of financial heavyweights by asking, ¡°Why did no one see it coming?¡± That question has been haunting economists ever since, as the recognition has slowly taken hold that, in the supposed ¡°golden age¡± preceding the crisis, they were blind not only to the potential consequences of failure ¡ª but also to the true cost of ¡°success.¡±
That period was, in many people¡¯s view, tarnished by greed, with rapid GDP growth accompanied by increasing inequality of income and well-being.
Leaders in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States seem to understand this, as they call for a new, more comprehensive policy target to replace national output.
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