Is measuring genuine progress at the sub-national level useful?

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is a monetary based indicator that has been designed to assess the impact of a growing economy on sustainable welfare. The GPI was first empirically applied at the national level. The majority of subsequent studies have likewise been applied at the national level. However, there is increasing interest in assessing sustainable welfare at the sub-national level – including states/provinces, counties and cities. The inherent methodological and structural flaws within the GPI when, applied at the national level, are equally if not more apparent when applied at the sub-national level. This paper considers a number of sub-national applications in order to highlight the difficulties of using the GPI at this level. Whilst important limitations are found, it is noted that the primary purpose of the GPI is to initiate debate on what sustainable welfare is and how societies might best maintain or increase it. Having a sub-national GPI encourages this debate and whilst its inherent flaws must be constantly addressed and explicitly acknowledged, they do not make redundant its usefulness in achieving its primary purpose.