I was originally introduced to the term thru his book “The Making of Modern Economics” (a light read, I’d recommend it to anyone curious about the history of economic thought w/o expertise in the area).

One suspicion I have – albeit unconfirmed – is that Gross Output hasn’t caught on b/c it underestimates the role of government. In the book, he includes a brief history of the modern use of the GDP, and apparently there was heavy debate about whether to include gov’t expenditures in it. Ultimately they decided to include gov’t activity (which has helped perpetuate the myth that war is good for the economy).