Hi!
The full quote on GNP attributed to Robert Kennedy
can be found in the
Oscar Arias Sánchez (2000) "The Legacy of Human Development:
a tribute to Mahbub ul Haq", Journal of Human Development Vol. 1
No. 1, pp 9-16.
This paper is a speech gibbon by Dr Oscar Arias Sánchez at the
First Global Forum on Human development, 29-31 July 1999, at
the United Nation Headquarters, New York.
And the quote is as follow:
"Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence
and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our
gross national product [is the largest in the world], but that GNP - if
we should judge [our nation] by that - counts air pollution and
cigarette
advertising, and ambulances to clear the highways of carnage. It counts
special locks for our doors and jails for those who break them. It
counts
the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in
chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and
armoured cars for police who fight riots in our streets... Yet GNP does
not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their
education,
or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry
or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate
or the integrity of public officials. It measures neither our wit nor
our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion
nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short,
except
that which makes life worthwhile."
Miguel Gonçalves
MRC Institute of Hearing Research
Nottingham
United Kingdom
Ray Thomas wrote:
>
> > I picked this up from the Campion Lecture given by Richard Jolly on
> > 'Indicators of Development' at the RSS2000 conference last September.
> > Jolly's typescript gives the source as 'quoted by Oscar Arias
> > in a tribute
> > to Mahbub ul Haq SOURCE NEEDED' (sic).
> >
> > So if anyone knows directly where this quote comes from, or
> > of the tribute
> > by Oscar Arias, can they please tell us all?? I'll
> > undertake to pass on
> > the information to Richard Jolly - who it seems needs it most!
>
> This quote is also used in a chapter 'The uses and abuses of GNP' by Dowrick
> and Quiggin in the book edited by Eckersley. Dowrick and Quiggin give the
> source as Kennedy R F 'Recapturing Americas moral vision', 18 March 1968.
> In 'RFK: Collected Speeches, Viking Press, 1993.
>
> This book isn't in the OU library. But I wonder if a member of this list
> might find it in their library and look to see if there is more detail of
> interest? Such as clues as to why this speech seems to have been
> forgotten about for several decades.
>
> Ray Thomas, Social Sciences, Open University
> Tel: 01908 679081 Fax 01908 550401
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> 35 Passmore, Milton Keynes MK6 3DY
>
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