A healthy economy is needed for people to be able to spend time with loved ones. People who have to work double shifts or can't make ends meet end up missing out on a lot of family time.
GDP doesn't measure a healthy economy however. It measures aggregate production which can be owned by a small minority of extremely wealthy asset holders while everyone else needs to work double shifts.
I'd want a measure of inequality in whatever function is used to measure happiness.
Oh absolutely agreed that (US) GDP is a terrible metric that we optimize for. There must be other signals of general economic health that would better serve the greater population.
Not the only thing that matters? Ability to make useful actions - heal, entertain, teach etc. - they all imply resource spending, in addition to time, so shouldn't it be reflected?
Agreed. Yet the Federal Reserve has a mandate to maximise employment, so to me it seems American society is quite literally manipulating the economy with a goal that's equivalent to maximising time away from your family