[rayiner]

Again, what does financialization mean other than "finance I don't like?" Comparing to other countries isn't a very objective way to establish what should be included in GDP. It renders your measure useless in analyzing trends that affect the whole G7. It's not like large finance industry profits and exploding real estate prices are unique to the US.

Surely there are some objective measures that can be derived in a principled way?

[Zigurd]

It means one cheeseburger OK. Five cheeseburgers not OK. Simple enough?

The objective measure: Your neighbors with a good quality of life eats one cheeseburger. The one who died, five.

Being vegan would be even better but there is no need to be so... principled.

Do you find that "unprincipled?"

[rayiner]

How do you translate that "principle" into a useful definition of GDP? E.g. When can I include revenues from trading options contracts in GDP?

[Zigurd]

Roughly the same way you measure returns against a market index, or currency value against a weighted "basket" of currencies.

But some things should be obvious: The US vastly overpays for health care. The US is also a far outlier in prison spending. Finance probably isn't the biggest offender in soaking up money while failing to deliver quality of life or material output.