MARKET TRANSACTIONS IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

This paper explains the treatment of market and non-market transactions in the national accounts. Different possibilities of defining these two types of transactions are discussed, and it becomes evident that a strong restriction of national accounts to market transactions only cannot be seriously taken into consideration. On the other hand, a system of supplementary tables is proposed which shows the market and the non-market transactions as such. Examples of tables of this kind are presented for the Federal Republic of Germany.     

Book reviews

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

PUBLIC GOODS,RENT DISSIPATION,AND CANDIDATE COMPETITION*

The early literature on rent seeking presumed that total expenditures in the rent-seeking process would equal the value of a contested prize. Subsequent analysis has shown, however, that a number of circumstances give rise to underdissipation of the contested rent—imperfectly discriminating contests, risk-aversion, or where individuals' valuations of the prize are not identical. This paper shows how underdissipation is associated with the public-good character of contested rents. In particular, total rent dissipation is demonstrated to be less than the average stake of the individual contenders. In addition to assessing rent dissipation in contests for public-good allocations, the paper also endogenizes the value of the prize by placing the rent-seeking contest in a setting of candidate competition.     

UNCTAD VII-what is really at stake

The seventh United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will be held in Geneva in July 1987. Heinrich Dehn reviews the issues on the agenda and shows where the policies of the industrialised and developing countries need to be revised.     

Quantifying shifts in primary factor demand in the South African economy

This article uses a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to explain the persistence in the high levels of unemployment in the South African economy in spite of modest to relatively strong output growth. We make use of a historical simulation for the period 2006–13 and find that the capital–labour ratio increased despite a relative increase in the rental price of capital. Classical economic theory suggests that changes in industry preferences toward capital and labour lead to adjusted capital–labour ratios. We quantify the changes in industry factor preferences during this period and highlight their impact in explaining observed labour market outcomes. Other changes in the economy over this period are also quantified.