In fact, Cowen discusses the flaws of GDP as a measure of human welfare at some length in the book. The metric he cares about, rather than GDP, is Wealth Plus = “The total amount of value produced over a certain time period. This includes the traditional measures of economic value found in GDP statistics, but also measures of leisure time, household production, and environmental amenities...” (loc 267 of the ebook). On this measure, the thing to maximise is explicitly not gdp per capita. So, for example if Kerala has good health and social indicators, they could do well on Wealth Plus even if their gdp per capita is low—“The significant benefits accrued from capabilities, such as health benefits, are accounted for in Wealth Plus, even if they are not properly represented in current GDP measures” (loc 391).
I don’t mean to be too critical here, but it would seem that you haven’t read the book that you are criticising.
In fact, Cowen discusses the flaws of GDP as a measure of human welfare at some length in the book. The metric he cares about, rather than GDP, is Wealth Plus = “The total amount of value produced over a certain time period. This includes the traditional measures of economic value found in GDP statistics, but also measures of leisure time, household production, and environmental amenities...” (loc 267 of the ebook). On this measure, the thing to maximise is explicitly not gdp per capita. So, for example if Kerala has good health and social indicators, they could do well on Wealth Plus even if their gdp per capita is low—“The significant benefits accrued from capabilities, such as health benefits, are accounted for in Wealth Plus, even if they are not properly represented in current GDP measures” (loc 391).
I don’t mean to be too critical here, but it would seem that you haven’t read the book that you are criticising.