INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF REAL PRODUCT AND ITS COMPOSITION: 1950–77

Structural relationships estimated from data obtained in a benchmark study of the expenditures and prices of 16 countries are used to develop a table of real gross domestic product and shares of gross domestic product devoted to private and public consumption and investment for each of over 100 countries in the years 1950 and 1960 through 1977. Price level estimates for total product and the three components are also provided.     

IMPROVED INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF REAL PRODUCT AND ITS COMPOSITION: 1950–1980

A set of international comparisons is developed for 124 countries over the three post World War II decades, 1950-80. A Data Table is presented which gives, for most countries and most years, real product estimates for three different national income concepts and for the major subaggregates consumption, investment, and government. Detailed comparative price level estimates are provided as well.     

INTERNATIONAL AND INTERTEMPORAL COMPARISONS OF REAL PRODUCT IN OECD COUNTRIES A GROWTH SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

This paper provides two new data sets for comparisons of real income in OECD countries. The first set provides adjusted real series for GDP and its components from 1960 to 1993 based on OECD 1990 purchasing power parities. The second set uses OECD PPP of different benchmark years, and interpolates these applying national price indices. Comparisons between both alternatives, Penn World Tahle Mark 5 (PWT 5) and its new version (PWT 5.6), in terms of economic growth and convergence, reveal some remarkable differences. Moreover, there are wider differences concerning the relative countries' position in GDP per capita ranking. Estimations of convergence equations based on OECD data yield a better fit than those obtained using PWT data, although there are also some significant differences between PWT 5 and PWT 5.6. Nevertheless, a very positive result is that other parameters of interest in these equations are not affected by the use of these different data sources.     

PRICE, PURCHASING POWER AND REAL PRODUCT COMPARISONS IN LATIN AMERICA

The paper begins with a discussion of the concepts used and the scope of their application. Then the purchasing power parity rates for LAFTA countries in 1968 are presented and analyzed. With the aid of such rates the real gross domestic products of these countries in 1968 are estimated. Among other conclusions, it is found that these differ quite importantly from GDP calculations using foreign exchange rates, even within the LAFTA area. Finally, the levels of consumer prices in the region in 1968 are compared, and these are contrasted with the results of a similar survey undertaken in 1960.     

REAL PRODUCT AND PRICE COMPARISONS BETWEEN LATIN AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

The purpose of this article is to add 12 Latin American countries to the Phase III of the United National International Comparisons Project (ICP). The data for Latin America was obtained through ECIEL. It has been demonstrated that the exchange rates do not usually reflect the relative purchasing power of currencies. When low-income countries are compared to higher income countries the exchange rate conversion tends to understate the relative income of the lower income countries. This is true for the total GDP and even more so for the GDP components. In per capita terms it is found that for low income countries their income is more than twice as great as is indicated by the exchange rate conversion.     

NEW ESTIMATES OF GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM 1830–1914

This paper presents a new annual series for United Kingdom gross national product, at current and constant prices, calculated from the expenditure side. These results differ significantly from previous estimates in that they go back to the beginning of the railway age on an annual basis and also in that the constant price estimates involve a detailed deflation of the main components of expenditure on consumption and capital formation. The implications of the new results are summarised, with particular reference to rates of growth and relative price changes, and an appendix describes the sources of the estimates.     

U.S. REAL PRODUCT AND REAL FACTOR INPUT, 1929–1967

The objective of this paper is to provide a conceptual basis for separating social product and social factor input accounts into price and quantity components. Despite the essential similarity between concepts of real product and real factor input, the measurement of social factor outlay in constant prices is not well established in social accounting practice.
Production accounts are constructed for the United States in current and constant prices, including social product and social factor outlay, for the period 1929–1967. The resulting estimates are applied to the measurement of total factor productivity and the study of the responsiveness of product and factor intensities to price changes.     

A TAXONOMY OF MULTILATERAL METHODS FOR MAKING INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF PRICES AND QUANTITIES

A taxonomy of multilateral methods is developed. All the main methods are classified within the taxonomy. It is then shown that methods in the same class share many of the same properties. Therefore the taxonomy should help practitioners to appreciate the wide range of alternative methods for making international comparisons, the relationships between methods, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each method.     

REVISED REAL CANADIAN GNP ESTIMATES AND CANADIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH, 1870–1926

Revised Canadian real GNP estimates for the 1870–1926 period, based on the nominal GNP estimates constructed by M. C. Urquhart and on a variety of sector-specific price indexes, are presented below. The construction of this revised real GNP series allows for the creation of real output estimates for the major sectors of the Canadian economy as well as for a new implicit price index series. These revised estimates cast new light on our present understanding of Canadian economic growth and reinforce the view that the Canadian wheat boom probably played an important and positive role in the process of Canadian economic development.     

A NEW STAGE IN THE ACTIVITIES O F THE COUNCIL FOR MUTUAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE IN THE FIELD O F INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF NATIONAL PRODUCT

This article reports on the plans of the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in the area of the purchasing power parity comparisons of national product and similar aggregates. A series of comparisons of the U.S.S.R. with other individual member countries was made for 1959,1966, and 1973. A new series will be undertaken for the year 1978. The scope of the program will be expanded to cover several new aggregates, including productivity concepts and total consumption of the population. The article discusses the conceptual and methodological problems and plans. Among other matters, attention is being given to the possibility of reducing the number of specifications priced, without sacrificing accuracy.     

AN ANNUAL CHAIN INDEX OF ITALY'S "REAL" PRODUCT, 1861–1989

The construction and application of a Paasche annual chain index to the Italian GDP figures between 1861 and 1989 is the subject of this article. Comparison with product at constant prices shows, except for war periods, a revaluation of GDP in favour of the annual chain index of around 0.10 percent. The most striking differences are concentrated into periods of marked changes in relative prices, and the new index modifies the temporal pattern of the growth trend by accentuating, without altering the periodization, cyclical fluctuations.     

ESTIMATES OF HOUSEHOLD SECTOR WEALTH FOR SOUTH AFRICA, 1970–2003

Market values of components of household sector wealth are important explanatory variables for aggregate consumer expenditure and household debt in macro-econometric models. We construct the first coherent set of the main elements of household-sector balance sheet estimates at market value for South Africa. Our quarterly estimates derive from published data on financial flows, and other capital market data, often at book value. Our methods rely, where relevant, on accumulating flow of funds data using appropriate benchmarks, and, where necessary, converting book to market values using appropriate asset price indices. Relating asset to income ratios for various asset classes to asset price movements and other features of the economic environment, throws light on the changing composition of household sector wealth. Most striking are the relative rise in the value of pension wealth and the trend decline of directly held securities, the decline and recent recovery of housing wealth, and the rise in household debt and concomitant decline of liquid assets from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.     

COMPARISONS OF PURCHASING POWER, REAL OUTPUT AND LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN MANUFACTURING IN JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND THE U.S.A., 1975–85

This study presents binary comparisons of real output and labour productivity in manufacturing in Japan, South Korea and the U.S.A. in 1975, made according to an "industry of origin approach." The 1975 benchmark comparisons have been updated to 1985. Value added per hour worked in Japanese manufacturing increased from 54 percent of the U.S. level in 1975 to 76 percent in 1985. In certain important branches such as electrical machinery, metal products and machinery and transport equipment, productivity leadership shifted to Japan. In South Korea, labour productivity in manufacturing increased rapidly from 1975 to 1985, both in absolute terms and relative to the U.S.A. Nevertheless, in 1985 value added per hour worked was only 14 percent of the U.S. level.     

HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN HEALTH: A MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK AND ESTIMATES FOR THE UNITED STATES, 1952–78

Lack of a conceptual basis for measuring human capital investment in health has hampered efforts to expand national accounting systems to include human capital investment. This paper presents a conceptual basis for developing estimates of this health investment, an estimation methodology consistent with the conceptual basis, and preliminary estimates for the United States for 1952-78. While much work remains to be done before comprehensive estimates of investment in health are achieved, it is clear that previous estimates based on answers to the question, “What improves health?” have included some inappropriate expenditures while excluding others that should be included. The conceptual basis presented here leads to a methodology for separating health care costs (not the costs of illness) into maintenance and gross investment. Gross investment can be further separated into net investment and the sum of damages and depreciation but empirical implementation of this step is not attempted here.