Prosperity on Paper: GDP per Capita, Household Income and the Search for a Better Measure of How People Live

Why can a country appear extraordinarily wealthy while many of its people struggle with housing, stagnant wages and the rising cost of everyday life? Prosperity on Paper explains why GDP per capita-one of the world's most frequently quoted economic measures-does not necessarily reflect the income, security or living standards of ordinary households. Written in a clear, accessible narrative, the book explores how multinational profits, population growth, cross-border workers, natural resources and financial centres can transform national statistics without producing an equivalent improvement in daily life. Moving from Ireland and Malta to Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland and resource-rich economies, it examines wages, household income, purchasing power, housing, debt, wealth, public services, poverty, unpaid work, human development and life satisfaction. Rather than dismissing GDP, the book shows how to read it correctly-and how a broader prosperity dashboard can reveal whether economic growth is truly reaching the people who live within it.