We have got the message. Liz Truss, Britain’s new prime minister, is all about growth in gross domestic product. “I have three priorities for our economy: growth, growth and growth,” she said in her conference speech last week. She implied the negative market reaction to her chancellor’s “mini” Budget — which made the pound fall and mortgage rates surge — would be worth it. “As the last few weeks have shown, it will be difficult,” she said. “Whenever there is change, there is disruption. And not everyone will be in favour of change. But everyone will benefit from the result.”There are two problems with this strategy. The first is that most people don’t know what GDP growth is, let alone care about it. Nobody is standing outside Downing Street with a megaphone chanting “What do we want? 2.5 per cent annual GDP growth. When do we want it? Over the medium term.”

In a study of the public’s understanding of economics funded by the Office for National Statistics in 2020, GDP was one of the economic concepts people understood the least. Less than half the British public were able to correctly identify the definition of GDP from a list of options. It was common for people to confuse it with the value of exports or the pound.

In focus groups, people didn’t know what sort of economic growth rate would be considered normal, good or bad. When told growth had been 1.3 per cent, the most common reaction was silence or indifference. “It means absolutely nothing to me,” one participant said. “It’s not tangible for us, we can’t touch or feel it,” said another. “You’re sort of in your own bubble, aren’t you? Just worrying about what you’ve got?.?.?.?your own economy.”