Meaning and measurement of national accounts statistics

Bos, Frits (2013): Meaning and measurement of national accounts statistics.

Abstract

This paper provides an introductory overview of the meaning and measurement of national accounts statistics. Attention is paid to the various uses of national accounts, the role of the international guidelines, the relationship with economic theoretic and administrative concepts and the measurement practice. The latter is also compared with compiling other statistics, econometric modelling and a barometer: what are the similarities and differences?

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Uses of national accounts, history of national accounting and macro-economic statistics, relevance and reliability of the national accounts, Petty, King, Vauban, Quesnay, Keynes, Clark, Kuznets, Leontief, Tinbergen, Hicks, Stone, Meade, guidelines on national accounting, European unification, macro-economic modeling and forecasting, GDP, economic growth and welfare, measurement in economics
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B0 - General > B00 - General; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology ; Computer Programs; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E01 - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth ; Environmental Accounts; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

References

Alsonso, W. and P. Starr (eds.), 1987, The Politics of Numbers (Russell Sage Foundation, New York).

Bodkin, R.G., L.R. Klein and K. Marwah, 1991, A History of Macroeconometric Model-Building (Edward Elgar, Aldershot).

Bos, F., 1993, Standard national accounting concepts, economic theory and data compilation issues; on constancy and change in the United Nations-manuals on national accounting (1947, 1953, 1968 and 1993), National Accounts Occasional Paper 61 ( Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg).

Bos, F., 1995, National accounting and economic theory, National Accounts Occasional Paper 75 (Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg).

Bos, F., 1997, Value and Income in the National Accounts and Economic Theory, Review of Income and Wealth, vol. 43, pp. 173-190.

Bos, F., 2007, Compiling the national accounts demystified, National Accounts Occasional Papers nr 95 (Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg).

Bos, F., 2008, Uses of National Accounts: History, International Standardization and Applications in the Netherlands, Eagle Economics and Statistics Working Paper nr 1, MPRA paper 9387

Bos, F., 2009a, The National Accounts as a Tool for Analysis and Policy; in View of History, Economic Theory and Data Compilation Issues (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller, Saarbrücken).

Bos, F., 2009b, The Art and Craft of Compiling National Accounts Statistics and their Implications for Reliability, Review of Income and Wealth, Vol. 55, Issue 4, pp. 930- 958.

Bos, F., 2011, Three Centuries of Macro-Economic Statistics, MPRA paper nr. 35391.

Bos, F. and C.N. Gorter (eds.), 1993, Compiling Dutch Gross National Product (GNP); Full Report on the Final Estimates After the Revision in 1992. National Accounts Occasional Paper nr. 57-extended (Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg).

Boumans, M., 2001, Measure for Measure: How Economists Model the World into Numbers. Social Research, Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 427-453.

Don, F.J.H., 2001, Forecasting in Macroeconomics: a Practitioner’s View. De Economist, pp. 155-175.

Kendrick, J.W. (ed.), 1995, The New System of National Accounts (Kluwer, Boston/Dordrecht/London).

Kenessey, Z (ed.), 1994, The Accounts of Nations (IOS Press, Amsterdam).

Maddison, A., 2005, Measuring and interpreting world economic performance 1500-2001, Review of Income and Wealth, 1-36.

Magnus, J.R. and M.S. Morgan, 1999, Methodology and Tacit Knowledge; Two Experiments in Econometrics (John Wiley & Sons, New York).

Mankiw, N.G., 2006, The Macroeconomist as Scientist and Engineer, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 20, nr. 4, 29-46.

Morgan, M., 1990, The History of Econometric Ideas. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).

Ruggles, R., 1990, A note on the revision of the United Nations System of National Accounts, Review of Income and Wealth, 36(4), pp. 413-419.

Schumpeter, J.A., 1945, History of Economic Analysis (Allen & Unwin, London).

Stone, R., 1947, Definition and Measurement of the National Income and Related Totals. Appendix in UN (1947).

Stone, R., 1951b, The Role of Measurement in Economics, The New March Lectures 1948-1949 (Cambridge University Press).

Stone, R., 1997, Some British Empiricists in the Social Sciences 1650-1900 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)

Studenski, P., 1958, The Income of Nations. (New York University Press, New York).

Vanoli, A., 2005, A History of National Accounting (IOS Press, Amsterdam).