A SIMPLIFIED INTEGRATED FORM OF SNA AND MPS*

At present two systems of measurement of national product are in practice, one as defined in the UN System of National Accounts (SNA) and the other termed the Material Product System (MPS) or National Balances for the Economy. In the present paper, an expanded system of accounts integrating the national balances within the framework of a simplified SNA has been suggested. The accounts suggested are mainly the two sets of (i) Supply, Disposition and Domestic Production of goods and services and Consumption Expenditure of Budget and Mixed Organisations and the Population, and (ii) Income and Outlay and Capital Formation Accounts. The system is convenient not only for arriving at estimates by either of the two approaches, but is readily manageable. This set of accounts can, without any effort, be put in the form of a matrix leading to its ultimate integration with either the UN System of National Accounts or a modified system of national balances. The system gives not only the integrated system of SNA and national balances, but also a coded list of transactors and transactions within the economy. This coded list can be used as the first set of information for the creation of the economic data bank for the Integrated Statistical Information System.     

EXPERIENCES AND PROBLEMS OF THE CIS COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION FROM THE MPS TO THE SNA

This paper reviews the transition of national accounts in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries from the Material Product System (MPS) to the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA) and discusses the major problems that still need to be solved in order to improve the quality of their national accounts. It argues that the MPS practice tended to exaggerate growth not because of different concepts, but because of methodological problems such as inadequate deflation due to poor price data and incomplete coverage of the non-observed economy as well as overpricing of new or modified products and institutional flaws that motivated data fabrication by enterprises. However, the heritages of the problems under the MPS, together with the emerging new types of institutional units, new sources of income and market-driven new services, have made the transition difficult.     

SUR LA STRUCTURE GENERALE DU SCN A PARTIR DE L'EXPERIENCE DU SYSTEME ELARGI DE COMPTABILITE NATIONALE FRANCAIS

This paper describes the French enlarged system of national accounts, and discusses its relevance for the revision of the UN System of National Accounts. Part I develops the concept of a "Central System" of national accounts, and sets out its minimum requirements and the margins within which adjustments or variants would be acceptable. This part concludes that the Central System is the basic system of macro-economics, and must meet the needs of macro-economists both as to content and coherence. Part II discusses the issue of the complexity of SNA. It proposes the introduction of a "tableau economique d'ensemble" (TEE) to provide an overview of the Central System, and shows how certain complementary approaches dealing with population, employment, input-output, financial operations, and more detailed presentations of wealth accounts and institutional sector accounts can be related to the TEE. The third part discusses the possibilities of deriving directly the accounts of the Central System from microdata for individual units, concluding that although this may be possible in limited special cases such as central government, it is generally impractical. For certain sectors- especially non-financial corporate and quasi-corporate enterprises-a system of intermediate accounts is proposed, which would reflect the data that can be collected from these units without adjustments and/or corrections needed for the national accounts. For other sectors, notably households, only global treatment seems feasible. Part IV introduces the concept of satellite accounts as a means of extending the coverage of the data system without overburdening the Central System. Annexes illustrate the tableau economique d'ensemble, the intermediate accounts, satellite accounts, and accounts relating to such extensions as natural resources and the ecosystem.     

ESTIMATING VALUE ADDED OF ILLEGAL PRODUCTION IN THE WESTERN BALKANS

Several economists continue to assert that the official national accounts of many countries do not cover a large “hidden” or “underground” economy. This article looks at one component of the underground economy, namely illegal activities. According to the UN System of National Accounts, production of goods and services that are illegal should be included in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if both the producers and consumers are willing partners to the transactions involved. We examine the estimates of illegal production recently made by several countries in the Western Balkans and conclude that, if illegal activities were fully included in their official GDP estimates, they would increase by about 1 percent. Trade in narcotics and prostitution are the two most important kinds of illegal activities in most countries and we look in detail at how estimates for these activities were made by the Western Balkan countries.     

ON THE TREATMENT OF TAXES AND GOVERNMENT IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

Framed in the context of the ongoing revision of the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA), this note proposes a new presentation of the National Accounts. While it does not require new information, nor difficult calculations, it is suggested to be conceptually clearer and practically simpler. The changes concern the treatment of taxes and government in the national accounts which imply that: (i) GDP, measured at basic price, is now exactly the sum of all value added, which is split in the compensation of employees and an enlarged operating surplus; (ii) the two functions of government are clearly distinguished in a modified sequence of accounts, that is, as producing non-market services up to the allocation of primary income account, and then as redistributing the national income; and (iii) with a conventional allocation of government services and GDP broken down between market GDP and non-market GDP, households remain the only final consumer and the so called question of consumption subsidies is resolved.     

中国住户生产核算:基本范畴与核算方法

住户部门是国民经济活动的重要参与者,住户生产核算是国民经济核算重要内容之一。本文依据SNA1993,结合中国的具体国情,界定了中国住户生产核算的主体和生产范围,在此基础上构建出住户生产核算简单账户、综合账户和投入产出矩阵范式,并延伸出相应的指标和分析方法。     

THE 1993 REVISED SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The 1993 System of National Accounts is a remarkable document, but the System also has some major imbalances and omissions. The present paper spells out four aspects of the SNA that require further development: (1) accounting for the costs of economic change; (2) delineation of information as an economic commodity; (3) overhaul of the methodology underlying input-output accounts; and, (4) consequences of the System's implicit use of compacted accounting. These developments can be incorporated in a Supplementary Document in the near future. We need not wait 25 years.     

ACCOUNTING FOR EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES IN THE CANADIAN SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: FLOWS, STOCKS AND PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES

The paper shows that the Canadian System of National Accounts includes exhaustible resources but treats them as if they were produced goods. Thus, the claim that conventional accounts ignore the contribution of exhaustible natural resources is partly true. To fully account for exhaustible resources, we present an alternative national accounting framework that incorporates natural resource flows and stocks. The framework modifies the measure of the net domestic product by a factor that differs from the Hartwick-Solow-Weitzman rule and leads to different estimates of GDP, national wealth, and productivity growth. An application to the Canadian oil and gas industry shows order-of-magnitude effects.     

TAKING THE ENVIRONMENT INTO ACCOUNT: THE NAMEA APPROACH

The National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) shows environmental burdens that are consistent with the economic figures in the national accounts. In the NAMEA, the existing national accounts matrix has been extended with accounts in physical units. On the basis of the expected contribution of each polluting substance to a particular environmental problem, emissions are converted to theme equivalents. This results in six summary environmental indicators that are directly comparable to the conventional economic aggregates. In addition, this meso-level information system can be used as the core data framework for integrated analyses and forecasts of economic and environmental changes.     

MEASURES OF TOTAL HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION

By expenditure on education, health, housing and other public services, governments provide many goods and services which are alternatives to, or additional to, household expenditure on consumption. In most Western national accounts, the two forms of consumption are rigidly separated. Yet the combination of the two–the concept of total household consumption–has obvious importance for the measurement and comparison of living standards and for the formulation and analysis of policy. This concept is recommended as an additional aggregate in the revised SNA. It is displayed in the UN International Comparison Project (ICP). It is used as a major aggregate ("total consumption of the population"), although hitherto generally excluding nonmaterial services, in the Material Product System. Yet it is rarely shown explicitly in Western national accounts. One reason is the slow progress in the analysis by purpose of government expenditure.
This paper shows how far figures of total household consumption, and of its division between collective and private consumption, can in fact be derived, for the advanced countries, from the data provided to the UN Yearbook of National Accounts , supplemented b y the ICP. The results show first the wide national variations in the relation between the two forms of consumption but, secondly, the gaps in information on this crucially important topic. The relation between direct government expenditure for collective consumption and transfer payments to households ("social income") is also examined. High and low levels of these two forms of State support to consumption reinforce each other almost as often as they offset each other. But, again, the data provided by national accounting statistics are very incomplete.
This paper was prepared for the 16th General Conference of the IARIW, August 1979.     

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM IN HUNGARY

This paper presents the characteristics of the National Accounting System of Hungary and outlines its development in the last decades and the insufficiencies still existing. Hungary has joined with great interest in the work performed within the frame of the United Nations Statistical Commission concerning the development of the Systems of National Accounts, being interested in applying—as far as possible—the results of the revision of the SNA and MPS in its national practice. The paper first presents a conceptual matrix containing all the major items in the MPS system in order to explain the contents of the items and the interdependencies among them. In this connection a brief account is given of the major differences between the SNA and MPS. The following part of the paper presents the National Accounting System introduced in Hungary in 1968. It is put also within the framework of a matrix, which supplies the items of both the SNA and MPS by means of simple aggregation as well as satisfying the national requirements, so that it is possible to compare the structure and development of the Hungarian economy with those of any other countries. The major differences between the Hungarian system and the current MPS and the revised SNA are then presented.     

STUDIES OF INCOME REDISTRIBUTION IN DENMARK

Income redistribution studies on the macro–economic level have been undertaken in Denmark for the years 1938–39, 1949, 1955, and 1963. By use of national accounts figures and all other available statistics, it was on certain assumptions possible to distribute public sector income and expenditure by income groups.
A quite different approach is used in a Danish redistribution study on the micro-economic level for 1971, which relies solely on the comprehensive data from the family budget survey for that year. Unfortunately this study only relates to employee households.
This paper deals with the 1963 and 1971 studies. First it describes and discusses the differences in methodology between the two studies and indicates some ideas for future studies in this field in Denmark. In the following sections some main results of the two studies are given, briefly for the 1963 study and more comprehensively for the 1971 study. The studies show the great and growing strength of the policy of redistribution through public sector income and expenditure in Denmark.
It is the opinion of the authors that the appearance of redistribution studies based on comprehensive family budget surveys makes for a substantial improvement of redistribution figures, and that the purely micro-level frame of reference makes it possible to interpret the results in a more satisfactory way than before. Furthermore, the appearance of detailed input-output based national accounts data should bring about further improvements in redistribution figures through better data on indirect taxes and subsidies as well as supporting data which are necessary to link the micro and macro levels in a consistent way.     

NATIONAL ACCOUNTS IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES: BALANCING THE BIASES?

In the past several years, efforts have been made to introduce the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993) SNA ) in most of the formerly centrally planned economies. In doing so, a number of problems have emerged, some of which are particular to the situation of these countries. Some of these problems will probably cause overestimates of national accounts variables, others will cause underestimates, and it would be purely coincidental if these effects cancel out. This paper discusses the most disconcerting issues in this situation, and possible solutions.     

Counting outputs,capital inputs and caring labor: Estimating gross household product

The estimation of Gross Household Product, the economic value added by the unpaid work and own capital of households outside the boundary of the System of National Accounts, should be addressed through household input-output satellite accounts which count household outputs, value them at market prices, and include an allowance for capital as a factor of production. This paper uses internationally comparable survey data to estimate the relative magnitudes of the gender division of the millions of hours of paid, unpaid and total work in twelve OECD countries, puts a dollar value on Gross Household Product in Australia, looks more closely at who provides care and nurture in households and suggests some urgent issues for attention.     

Development of the SEEA 2003 and its implementation

The preparation of the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts 2003 marks an important milestone in the world of official statistics. Just as the development of the original guidelines for national accounting in the 1950s was the first step toward today's robust, internationally comparable economic statistics, the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts 2003 offers hope to bring order and comparability to environmental statistics. How the system came to be and why it is an important achievement are outlined. This is followed by an overview of its accounting structure. A discussion of the implementation of the SEEA 2003, both in ideal terms and as actually practiced in statistical offices, concludes.     

THE ESTABLISHMENT, REFORM, AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

This paper provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the establishment, reform, and development of China's System of National Accounts, focusing on important changes in concepts and methods in national accounting during China's transition from the Soviet-type Material Product System to the United Nations System of National Accounts, as well as existing problems and challenges that must be faced in the further development of the system.     

LINKAGES BETWEEN MACRO AND MICRO BUSINESS ACCOUNTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC MEASUREMENT

The paper shows the relationship between microbusiness accounting based on double-entry bookkeeping and macroeconomic accounting based on quadruple-entry bookkeeping. In order for microaccounts to successfully aggregate into macroaccounts (i.e. preserve macro/micro linkages), quadruple-entry bookkeeping requires that the traditional double entries, recorded by transacting microbusiness units, be "consistent" with each other. In fact national economic accounting implicitly assumes that such consistency is maintained when national "aggregates" are uniquely extracted from national accounts and when national "identities" are claimed to hold true.
The main purpose of the paper is to show important examples where quadruple-entry consistency is not satisfied. These examples typically involve "complex" economic transactions between business units in which the legal form of the transactions do not necessarily represent their economic substance. When this occurs, different business units have genuinely divergent conceptions and perceptions with respect to their mutual economic transactions. Therefore, microbusiness accounts cannot be successfully aggregated into macroeconomic accounts without violating the integrity of microdecision making records.
The conclusion of the paper introduces a new theory called Perpetual Imbalanced Accounting. The theory shows that inconsistent (or imbalanced) economic accounting does tend to become consistent (or balanced) over sufficiently long time periods. Therefore, we must adopt a more dynamic view of national accounting if we desire to preserve successful macro/micro linkages. However, the problems of imbalanced macroaccounting and its statistical consequences cannot be entirely avoided no matter how long the accounting time period is taken. All of the above have important implications for the revision of the United Nations System of National Accounts.