Rosstat will now take into account the cost of prostitutes and drugs when calculating GDP

They are discussing the news that Rosstat will now take into account the costs of prostitutes and drugs when calculating GDP.

In fact, there is nothing unexpected in this: Rosstat is doing what they did in Europe many years ago. The history is like this. Each country's contribution to the EU budget depends on its GDP. (In fact, not only: the system of formation of the European budget - the history of decades of negotiations, concessions and compromises. But GDP plays a major role). In Germany, prostitution is legalized and hundreds of thousands of women and men work in this respected industry. And in most other European countries - is prohibited. But after all, the exchange of goods and services for money - no matter legal or illegal - is still an economy. So why not consider?

And in 2014, the European Commission decided: to take into account drugs and prostitutes in the calculations of GDP. The British were outraged. As you know, two types of people live in Britain: investment bankers and sons of rich dads from all over the world. The former work one hundred hours a week, and the other sixty-eight hours snort heroin, inject marijuana and smoke cocaine, and also film girls and boys. Rich sons do the same thing, only they have an extra hundred hours a week for it. In general, the addition of drug trafficking and prostitution should have increased British GDP by 11 billion (then!) Euros. More than all of British agriculture.

As a result, London began a protracted dispute with Brussels, which ended by itself as a result of Brexit.

I just want to reassure the worried readers. In Russia, the amount of money paid to the federal budget is in no way tied to the region's GDP. Dear Petersburgers, no one is going to make you pay four times as much taxes, please stop being nervous.

Vasily Topolev 2022-11-24