Unmistakably, “in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; the increased self-reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy.”¹

Pope Leo begins his groundbreaking encyclical with this harsh opening. Is it too harsh? Maybe. Yes, our budgets are starting to tighten, our multi billionaires are going to space for fun, and we have all seen today’s moral degeneracy. But on the other hand, our poor, those in “utter poverty,” those on welfare, live like kings! Our homes are larger than ever; and we all have indoor plumbing.

Besides subjective feelings, how can we objectively tell if we’ve made any progress?

The most commonly cited metric is the GDP, or the Gross Domestic Product, which measures the total value of goods and services produced in a nation. We’ll use this metric to brag about how much better our life in America is or how Germany must pay more into NATO. Often this is paired with the per capita calculation, and as far as I am aware, is the only large-scale measurement of a society’s health on offer.

GDP concerns itself with only goods and services, having no awareness for wellbeing. And, for that matter, it’s a dubious measure of goods and services too… We need a new metric.

Take for example Olivia. Olivia and her husband Xavier have three children, but decide that in order to make ends meet, Olivia should return to an office job as a marketing consultant, making 70K per year. In order for mom to return to her full time job, however, the three children must be enrolled in daycare, costing the family a total of 40K per year.

This has resulted in a 30K increase in this little family’s income. But not according to our GDP. This decision, to return to work, has raised America’s GDP by one hundred and ten thousand dollars. 70 – 40 = 110.

Well done economists. Well done politicians. Well done everyone.

We should be able to do better. We can better measure the health of our society. Later, Rerum Novarum explains, “since the end of society is to make men better, the chief good that society can possess is virtue.”² In other words, a good society is one that’s easy to be good in.

How do we measure that?