Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

One edge case? Look at the debt levels in the US! There is a huge chunk of the population that has a negative net worth, mostly due to mortgage debt.

Is it fair to say all those people are poorer than people in India who have a few dollars to their name?




Well, show me a perfect metric that doesn't have similar edge cases?

For example, income has its own issues -- a retiree can have little income but a big retirement fund to draw down.

In an ideal world, you'd probably measure something like current net wealth + discounted expected future earnings, and maybe use PPP instead of GDP, except now you're trying to measure two things accurately instead of one, and making guesses about the future too.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: