kalm wrote:CAA Flagship wrote:
What specifically about "Economic policy"?
Do you mean Federal Reserve's monetary decisions or do you mean political decisions such as tax reform, or both?
Leaning way more to the political decisions side. GDP is often held up as a measuring stick, but it leaves out some crucial elements.
Another is environmental quality. In the short term, regulation can hurt GDP and slow growth but in the long term can increase standard of living including health.
OK. But I think GDP is used more out of convenience than anything. No one number dictates any policy, nor should it.
If you want to say that other factors need a bigger say in policy decisions, then fine. But all decisions should be made based on risk.
So I was designing an alternate entrance road into a facility across a small area that was once a landfill. I received a design from a Geotechnical Engineer for that section. Let's say the cost was 10x the normal construction cost (per linear foot) in that section compared to the other parts of the road. I asked the Geotech what his confidence was of that design. He said 90%. I then asked if he reduced the design to 5x the cost what his confidence would be. He said 80%. I then asked what failure would be like. He said potholes that would have to be filled in. So I told the client that for half the cost, he would reduce the confidence from 90% to 80% and the failure in either case would be potholes. The client chose the less expensive design.
So there was significant cost savings with only little increased risk.
