Measuring GDP in a digital economy

SINGAPORE (Sept 2): In recent years, demand for digitalised peer-to-peer services such as accommodation sharing website AirBnB, private car booking app Uber as well as crowd-funding platforms like Kickstarter as substitutes for the traditional and pricier hotels, taxis and bank loans has been on the rise.

Meanwhile, consumption of free online content on Wikipedia, Google and YouTube has also grown even as the number of consumers going to the cinema and record store has fallen, while more are going online to book flight tickets instead of visiting their travel agent.

But while digitalisation is surely transforming the way economies function and generate demand, official GDP figures have so far been unable to measure the growth and progress made on this front.

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