The grand narrative of conventional economics celebrates GDP as the height of human progress by totaling the value of all market activity. It doesn't really care if that activity is beneficial to society or not - in fact, it doesn't even ask that question! Instead, it just measures if money has changed hands, which is its moronic definition of wealth creation. By this reckoning, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Fukushima nuclear disaster should be considered good, because they ended up stimulating economic activity.

— Think like a Commoner by David Bollier (Page 96)