Professor Dan Sichel on Why Lady Gaga's Creative Process Should be Counted Toward GDP

The U.S economy will be getting a boost thanks to an accounting change, reported NPR's Planet Money. Professor Dan Sichel spoke with NPR's David Kestenbaum about what is and isn't included in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and how "Lady Gaga Writing A New Song Is Like A Factory Investing In A New Machine"

Sichel, who identified himself as a "Lady Gaga fan," explained that while things like tickets sales currently count toward GDP, the value of things like Lady Gaga spending time working on a new song was not. "It's quite analogous to a factory investing in a new machine," Sichel told NPR and, according to him, it should be counted.

"The accounting rules for GDP were written in a simpler time, when most companies produced physical things," the story states, "But over time, the economy has increasingly shifted toward producing intangible goods."

Read the story and listen to the whole interview on the NPR Planet Money Blog.