measuring love

"What do people mean," Mises asked, "when they speak of measuring 'economic growth'? People would think it foolish to try to 'measure' love. But when they try to measure economic conditions they are in effect trying to measure 'love,' the 'love' or preferences people have for certain conditions and certain changes. The idea of economic measurement denies the distinction between human action and what takes place in the physical world outside of man."

-- Bettina Bien Greaves, "Mises's New York University Seminar (1948-1969)" The Libertarian Review, September 1981.