It's Alberta's 100th birthday-what better time to measure the province's accomplishments and progress during the last century.
The question is, how do we measure progress? The Pembina Institute economist Amy Taylor says the best way to measure "progress" is by using an integrated Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)-an alternative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which only measures the exchange of money or financial capital. Taylor has just updated the 51 indicators that make up Alberta's GPI.
The Gross Domestic Product increased by more than 400% between 1961 and 2003. But the GDP rises with oil spills, floods and car crashes, and makes no attempt to determine if the well-being of humans is improving or declining with each additional dollar spent.
The Genuine Progress Indicator redefines "progress" by looking at 51 economic, social and environmental indicators. The story emerging from Amy Taylor's work is a mixed bag of results:
- Suicide rates in Alberta are higher than the Canadian average.
- Obesity rates have increased.
- There are more gamblers making higher wagers than in the past.
- Premature mortality and infant mortality rates are both down.
- There are fewer fatal car accidents.
- Unemployment and underemployment rates are down.
- Albertan's weekly wages are up.
- Spending is increasing faster than wages.
- Household debt is on the rise.
- The gap between the rich and poor is growing.
- Greenhouse gas emissions are soaring in spite of efficiency gains in some sectors.
- Forests are increasingly fragmented with seismic lines, roads and resource extraction operations.
Taylor says the GPI provides a more balanced picture of "progress" by tracking 51 indicators. "When we look at the 51 indicators of the Genuine Progress Indicator and combine them into an index, we find Alberta's GPI has declined from a score of 76 in 1961 to 61 in 2003," says Taylor.
"What the GPI provides is a framework that distinguishes between positive and negative expenditures, values volunteerism as it does paid work, and accounts for unsustainable resource depletion. We need to distinguish between quantity of growth and quality of growth in the province," stresses Amy Taylor, who directs The Pembina Institute's Ecological Fiscal Reform program.
The Pembina Institute first developed the GPI for Alberta in 2001. On the occasion of Alberta's centennial anniversary-with the support of the Suncor Energy Foundation, Alberta Ecotrust and the Calgary Foundation-it has updated the 51 environmental, social and economic indicators that comprise Alberta's GPI.
The 51 two-page summary reports are available free online at Pembina's new Genuine Progress Indicator site located at www.fiscallygreen.ca. The site includes all of the summary reports, almost 30 technical reports and other information about the GPI. The story these reports tell is both fascinating and revealing.
"Alberta has been a leader in introducing accountability and performance measures in Canada. As we achieve the 100 year milestone, there is an opportunity to continue that leadership and ensure we are operating with a full balance sheet," says Marlo Raynolds, Executive Director of the Pembina Institute. "This new, more robust system accounts for Alberta's most important capital assets-financial, natural and human."
Is Alberta getting richer? That depends on how you measure true "wealth".