Between 2000 and 2017, real GDP per person grew, on average, 1% per year in the United States. a. Did this GDP growth benefit all Americans? All people benefited equally. Americans with income in the bottom half of the income distribution benefited more. Americans with income in the upper half of the income distribution benefited more. b. What does this tell us about the limitations of GDP as a measure of living standards? The limitation of GDP suggested is that leisure does not count. prices are not values. GDP ignores the distribution of income. environmental degradation is not counted.