The Gross Domestic Product is a supposed to be a measurement of the value of all the goods and services produced and provided in a nation, which is used to attempt to make a measurement of standard of living. But it's piss-poor - there's no way to subtract. Every traffic fatality, emphesima death, and chemical or oil spill increases the GDP. So start spilling! Conversely, things that don't involve money are excluded from the GDP, like *not* polluting.