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Can you take government spending out of GDP?

NPR | By Paddy Hirsch,

Wailin Wong, Angel Carreras, Kate Concannon

Published March 11, 2025 at 9:46 AM EDT

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 13: Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick (R) speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Trump administration has some nits to pick with government spending: They don't think it should be counted as part of the country's GDP, that it should be counted separately.

In today's episode, we look at why government spending is part of the U.S.'s GDP and we speculate why Trump's administration might want to take it out ... and what that could mean.

Related episodes:
Econ Exploder: GDP

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Copyright 2025 NPR

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Paddy Hirsch

Wailin Wong

Wailin Wong is a co-host of The Indicator from Planet Money.

Angel Carreras

Angel Carreras is an assistant producer for The Indicator from Planet Money. He is a Bakersfield-raised, Cal State Long Beach graduate. He previously worked at KCRW, the NPR member station in Los Angeles. He has produced award-winning and character-driven work, with subjects that have included masked puppeteers, mutual aid groups, and community activists.

Kate Concannon

Kate Concannon is the Supervising Senior Editor at The Indicator from Planet Money. She leads this small, collaborative team of hosts, reporters and producers in making sense of crucial, but often complex and confusing, economic news in just 10 minutes a day.

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