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On the fourth of January, 1934,

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A young man delivered a report

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to the United States Congress

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that 80 years on,

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still shapes the lives of
everyone in this room today.

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Still shapes the lives of
everyone on this planet.

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That young man wasn't a politician,

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he wasn't a businessman,

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a civil rights activist,

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or a faith leader.

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He was the most unlikely of heroes,

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an economist.

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(Laughter)

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His name was Simon Kuznets

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and the report that he delivered was called,

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"National Income, 1929-32"

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Now, you might think that

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this is a rather dry and dull report,

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and you're absolutely right.

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It's dry as a bone.

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But this report is the foundation

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of how, today, we judge the 
success of countries.

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What we know best as
Gross Domestic Product,

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or GDP.

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GDP has defined and shaped our lives

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for the last 80 years.

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And today I want to talk about 


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a different way to measure
the success of countries.