Because of that neglect, they have declined. The GPI explicitly recognizes and counts the value of voluntary work. Paradoxically, sickness is good for the economy because it produces more spending on drugs, doctors and hospitals. By contrast, the GPI values population health and counts sickness as a cost. From the GPI perspective, health promotion and disease prevention make good economic sense.
Poverty is costly.
From the GPI perspective, reducing high poverty rates among single mothers is a cost-effective health investment. The GPI gives explicit value to our standing forests and sends early warning signals to policy makers when it registers a loss in resource stocks. We don't have to wait for another fisheries collapse to pay heed to the value of our natural wealth. It gives explicit value to our health, our free time, our natural resources, and the quality of our environment. And it counts crime, pollution, sickness, road accidents, and greenhouse gas emissions as costs rather than gains to the economy.