bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LATIN AMERICA*
Authors: Blades Derek W.
Published: March 2005

This paper presents some preliminary findings from a research study by the OECD Development Centre into the treatment of subsistence activities in national accounts. It summarizes the results of a questionnaire on country practices, and reports on the findings with respect to shares of non‐monetary production in GDP, methods of estimation, and usefulness of the resulting estimates. Among the 48 developing countries covered, the share of non‐monetary value added in total GDP ranges from over 40 percent for the poorer countries of Africa to 5 percent or less for the more advanced countries of Latin America and Southern Europe. In countries where rural living standards are much below those in urban areas, non‐monetary activities may be very important to the well‐being of a large number of people, even though they form only a small part of GDP, and it is still important to make realistic estimates for subsistence output. Agriculture is obviously the main item in non‐monetary production, accounting often for over 80 percent of the total. Most countries use some kind of “producers' prices” for valuing agricultural output. Few countries now publish separate figures for non—monetary activities. For many countries, doing so would involve a considerable amount of extra work, but for a number of planning purposes it does seem important to distinguish subsistence activities separately.
THE EFFECT ON POVERTY STATUS IN ISRAEL OF CONSIDERING WEALTH AND VARIABILITY OF INCOME
Authors: Habib Jack , Kohn Meir , Lerman Robert
Published: March 2005

This paper assesses the effects of including wealth and the variability of income on the incidence of poverty and the degree of income inequality in Israel. A special survey, which includes data on the wealth and income of a national sample of Israeli families in 1963–64 and 1964–65, allows us to go beyond measures based on current income alone.

The first section reviews earlier studies of poverty in Israel. The next section looks at poverty and inequality in terms of current income, current wealth, and a combined measure of income and wealth. The combined measure is the Hansen‐Weisbrod measure (HW), which equals income plus the annuity value of wealth, assuming all wealth is just consumed at the time of death. It is interesting that, in spite of the much higher wealth inequality than income inequality, the HW measure was slightly more equally distributed than income. This result occurred because the annuity component made up a low share of the total HW measure and the correlation between income and wealth was well under 1. Although overall inequality and poverty were similar for income and HW measures, the incidence of poverty by subgroup depended on the measure used.

The final section presents a dynamic view of poverty and inequality. Year‐to‐year changes in poverty were substantial. Because of the use of a relative poverty concept and the rise in real incomes, the real income poverty line rose by 15 percent between 1963 and 1964. Still, of those in income poverty in 1963, 37 percent managed to escape poverty in 1964. The paper shows how the degree to which poverty was stable or transitory varied substantially by age and country of origin.
LABOR INCOME DIFFERENTIALS WITHIN THE LATIN AMERICAN FREE TRADE AREA (LAFTA)
Authors: Salazar‐Carrillo Jorge
Published: March 2005

This article considers the major results of a study of relative wage structures in the LAFTA region. It first discusses the nature and methodology of the study, which was undertaken for ECIEL. Data on the size of labor income differences are introduced, and an attempt is made to determine the causes of such differences, and to relate them to various wage differentials. The main findings of the study are then summarized, with discussions of inter‐country, intra‐country, and occupational labor income differentials and their causes. Finally, the results of the study are updated to the end of 1970, and some conclusions are derived regarding the inter‐temporal behavior of wages in LAFTA.
ON THE BIASES IN FOREIGN TRADE INDICES*
Authors: Hansen Bent
Published: March 2005

Starting out from the observation that both imports and exports may be viewed as the difference between domestic consumption (use) and production, static standard theory of biases in consumption and production indices is brought to bear upon trade indices: Laspeyres tends to overrate when applied to imports and to underrate when applied to exports; for Paasche, the opposite holds true. Hence, terms of trade tend to be underrated (exaggerated) when based upon Laspeyres (Paasche) price indices. The problem of extending these conclusions to the case of changes in production frontiers and preference maps is discussed. When homotheticity is absent, correlation between price and quantity relatives may upset the simple conclusions. This is of special importance in the large‐country situation. Dynamics further complicate the situation. A cobweb mechanism in exports may thus reverse the static results.
STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN THE AMERICAN ECONOMY, BY FUNCTIONAL INDUSTRY GROUP
Authors: Bezdek Roger H. , Dunham Constance R.
Published: March 2005

In this paper, we reclassify U.S. input‐output data along functional lines by analyzing the use of products represented in the detailed coefficients of the 1967 interindustry study. Our new categories comprise 11 producing “industries,” services (nonproduction), energy (nonproduction), marketing, distribution, other general, crude materials, semi‐finished materials, energy production, service production, and machinery replacement, furnishing products to 80 consuming industries. This functional input‐output system is then used to analyze postwar structural change in the American economy. Distinct shifts in the uses of different types of inputs are indicated and the implications of these results are discussed.
THE REDISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS OF THE INFLATIONARY PROCESS IN JAPAN, 1955–75*
Authors: Niida Hiroshi
Published: March 2005

It is often discussed that inflation introduces a substantial, arbitrary and regressive redistribution of income and wealth under even mild inflation. But after a quarter century of experience with inflation in postwar Japan, very little is known about these costs of inflation on an empirical basis. Due to the complexity of the evaluation of the redistributional impact on Japan, the present paper analyzes the effects of inflation on individuals or groups as wage earners, debtors and creditors, taxpayers, and holders of real estate.

The main results of the present investigation suggest that the Japanese inflation for 1955–75 did not seem to introduce much inequality in the income (flow) account in the economy, but that the inequality between households has appeared more in the wealth (stock) account, especially between the house‐owner groups and non‐house‐owner groups. These observations are mainly derived from the following investigations; (i) the wage lag hypothesis about inflation, even if not wrong, does not seem acceptable when applied to the entire period (1955–75) as well as to each of the five sub‐periods; (ii) there has been a substantial transfer of real purchasing power from households to non‐financial corporations, and, to a lesser extent, to government entities in the debtor‐creditor redistribution; (iii) among households, the most substantial redistribution takes place from the non‐houseowners to houseowners with land, because of the huge amount of capital gains from the rapid increase in the price of real estate relative to the prices of other assets or the consumer price index, except for the last three years of rampaging inflation.
THE DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS OF THE 1969–75 INFLATION ON HOLDINGS OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES*
Authors: Wolff Edward N.
Published: March 2005

Using a simple simulation model, this paper assesses the impact of relative movements in asset prices on the distribution of wealth during the 1969–75 period. Because of the strong negative correlation between wealth level and the ratio of debt to wealth, this particular inflation induced a substantial drop in the overall level of wealth inequality. Moreover, comparing the portfolios of different demographic groups, we found that middle‐aged households gained relatively to younger and older ones, married couples gained relatively to singles, whites gained relatively to non‐whites, and home‐owners gained relatively to renters. The biggest gainers from this inflation were home‐owners with large mortgages and the biggest losers the large stock holders.
ON THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA*
Authors: Davies J. B.
Published: March 2005

This paper is concerned with measurement of the size distribution of personal wealth in Canada. The only available estimates of this distribution are those provided on the occasions when Statistics Canada's Survey of Consumer Finance has surveyed assets and debts. Results of the latest “SCF” to do this, that of 1977, are not yet available. The paper shows that the previous study, conducted in 1970, indicated wealth‐inequality as viewed by top quantile shares roughly of the same order as estimated by others for the U.S. and U.K. A comparison of asset and debt aggregates implied by the survey, however, with independent totals indicates that for almost all items the SCF likely under‐estimated true holdings. The possible relative importance of sampling and non‐sampling errors in explaining this distortion is considered, drawing on Monte Carlo evidence and American validation studies of survey response. It is concluded that sampling error is unlikely to provide the explanation for SCF discrepancies in aggregates, but that non‐sampling error is capable of doing so. Finally the 1970 SCF distribution of wealth is re‐estimated. First a correction is made for hypothetical differential response according to true net worth. Second an attempt is made to remove the effects of under‐reporting by respondents. The “best‐guess” re‐estimated distribution exhibits mean net worth considerably greater than shown by the SCF but only a slightly greater degree of concentration. Under certain fundamental assumptions this result is surprisingly robust. The appropriate conclusion is not that survey estimates of the distribution of wealth are reliable, but that the strong non‐sampling errors affecting the 1970 Canadian SCF wealth estimates may have been composed of almost completely offsetting sources of bias.
THE ACCUMULATION OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH OVER THE LIFE‐CYCLE: A MICRODATA ANALYSIS*
Authors: Wolff Edward N.
Published: March 2005

In this paper, I investigate the validity of the Modigliani‐Brumberg (M‐B) model as an explanation of the variation of wealth holdings among households. The model as such, even with the inclusion of estimates of household lifetime earnings, explains only a minute portion of the variation in household wealth. Indeed, for certain groups such as non‐white, rural residents, and the low educated, the coefficients of the regression model are insignificant. Moreover, when the top wealth holders are removed from the sample and when non‐cash financial and business assets are eliminated from the household portfolios, the explanatory power of the M‐B model increases markedly. Essentially, the validity of life‐cycle wealth accumulation models must be restricted to the white, urban, educated middle classes and their accumulation of housing, durables, and cash. The rich have very different motives for saving and very different sources of saving, while the poor do not earn sufficient income over their lifetime to accumulate any non‐negligible wealth.
A COMPARISON OF DISTRIBUTIONS OF ANNUAL AND LIFETIME INCOME: SWEDEN AROUND 1970.
Authors: BLOMQUIST N. S.
Published: March 2005

The concern with income distribution has always mainly existed because of a concern with individuals' economic welfare. In recent years, the question has arisen whether the distribution of annual income—the distribution most often studied—is the best proxy for the distribution of economic welfare. Other measures, such as lifetime income, have been proposed instead.

The paper starts with a discussion of how to define and measure the distribution of lifetime income. By using a simulation model, which partly consists of estimated functions and partly of tax functions taken directly from tax laws, distributions of lifetime income, variously defined, are then constructed. These distributions are compared with each other, and with distributions of annual income. The simulations indicate that the distribution of lifetime income is considerably less unequal than the distribution of annual income. Whether inheritances are included or not seems to be of no importance for the inequality of lifetime income. If, on the other hand, we include the value of leisure time in lifetime income, inequality increases by about 10–15 percent. Distributions of income after tax have Gini coefficients which are approximately 25 percent less than the Ginis for the before‐tax distributions. We thus find that the picture of inequality we get is very much dependent on which income concept we use.
THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME IN LIBERIA
Authors: Akpa E. K.
Published: March 2005

The economy of Liberia is one in which, in spite of past satisfactory growth performance, a high level of income inequality persists. In 1977, for instance, a mere 2 percent of the people accounted for some 33 percent of nation‐wide wage income. These people live disproportionately in Montserrado County in which the capital city is located. While each of the other counties are largely rural and poor, each has far lower intra‐county inequality than wealthy Montserrado.

Intersectoral location of the income‐earner, average income levels and the extent of access to human capital formation opportunities are some characteristics of the economy that have been found to explain significant portions of intercounty variations in the levels of household income concentration. Income inequality is reduced with increases in the extent of agricultural activity as the share of the top income group falls and that of the bottom group rises. The reverse happens with growing urban‐area activity. Higher income concentration occurs with rising per capita incomes as the top group's income share rises and the bottom income group's share falls. While this appears to be an instance of the Kuznet U‐shaped hypothesis, here there are no definite signs of a possible reversal any time soon. The levels of access to educational facilities move inversely with the level of inequality, with expanding elementary facilities benefiting the poorer people at the expense of the wealthy while the reverse happens in the case of expanding secondary educational facilities.
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCES OF STAGFLATION AN EXAMPLE: FRANCE AND GERMANY, 1971–79
Authors: Marczewski Jean
Published: March 2005

Stagflation is a combination of an increasing rate of inflation with a decreasing rate of real growth. It appears when the inflationary gap of production costs raises faster than the inflationary gap of expenditures on Gross Domestic Marketable Product. The decomposition of these two gaps into their main elements gives then the possibility of determining the sources of the inflationary increase in costs and the causes of the relative retardation of the inflationary increase in expenditures. The main cause of stagflation in 1974 for France and Germany was the huge rise in oil prices which had not been immediately followed by an equal rise in prices of their exports. The inflationary rise in wages is an almost permanent factor of stagflation in France; in Germany its responsibility is involved only before 1975. In France the insufficient increase in the inflationary gap of expenditures was mainly due to the restrictive monetary policy and to the official price regulation. In Germany the restrictive monetary policy also contributed to the slowdown in demand in 1974 and 1975. In 1977, on the contrary, the main cause of stagflation was the slackening of export demands due to the world recession and the revaluation of the DM.
SELECTED PROBLEMS OF WELFARE AND PRODUCTION IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
Authors: Adler Hans J.
Published: March 2005

A number of rather traditional problems relating to the estimation of the national accounts have been raised in the recent literature. This paper examines five of these problems from the point of view of a government statistician working within certain time and resource constraints. Credibility, comprehensibility, theoretical validity, cost and analytical usefulness are the criteria which should aid in deciding how to treat such matters as the extension of the boundaries of economic production, proposed changes in the categorization of both final and intermediate expenses, the treatment of “total” welfare and estimation relating to the so‐called underground economy.
THE TREATMENT OF PENSIONS AND INSURANCE IN NATIONAL ACCOUNTS*
Authors: Ruggles Nancy D. , Ruggles Richard
Published: March 2005

In the course of the nearly two decades since the revised SNA was developed, the role of pensions and insurance in the developed western economies has been significantly altered. The United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA) is not fully consistent in its treatment of pension and insurance transactions. This paper examines whether, in view of the changed institutional context, a modification of the SNA treatment of this complex of flows would be desirable. It investigates the impact on household income and saving of adopting a somewhat more consistent transactor/transaction approach for all pension and insurance transactions. Four main topics are covered: (1) social security, (2) private pensions, (3) life insurance, and (4) casualty insurance. Each is considered in terms of the treatment of contributions, the treatment of benefits, and the handling of reserves and the income generated by them. The same sorts of problem arise in all four cases.
HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN HEALTH: A MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK AND ESTIMATES FOR THE UNITED STATES, 1952–78
Authors: Gates John H.
Published: March 2005

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.
ON THE ESTIMATION OF PURCHASING POWER PARITIES ON THE BASIC HEADING LEVEL
Authors: Krijnse Locker Hugo
Published: March 2005

The estimation procedure for purchasing power parities is generally divided into two parts, one for calculating transitive PPP's within basic headings and a second beyond this most detailed level up to gross domestic product. This paper only concerns the first step. It provides a description of the work carried out by the European Communities in 1980 within the United Nations International Comparison Project (ICP) framework. The estimated PPI's for basic headings are put forward together with the procedures for product selection and specification, the classification used for these purposes and the impact on the estimation of transitive PPP's. Instead of the country‐product dummy (CPD) method used in the ICP, a revised Elteto‐Köves‐Szulc (EKS) procedure is proposed in which the estimation method and product selection constitute one integrated procedure.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS TOWARDS RESOLVING THE COMPANY‐ESTABLISHMENT PROBLEM*
Authors: Postner Harry H.
Published: March 2005

The paper begins by stating various aspects of the national economic accountant's “company‐establishment problem.” Six possible approaches to the problem are briefly outlined. The paper concentrates on one approach based on new developments in business accounting theory and practice, namely divisional‐reporting procedures. The division represents the smallest operating entity capable of reporting both a complete set of production (income) statistics and a set of related financial (balance‐sheet) statistics. When companies are owned and controlled by the same interests, namely the enterprise, each division reports on an enterprise‐wide basis. In this important case, the traditional company‐establishment problem has an enterprise‐division‐establishment resolution.

There is considerable emphasis on clarifying the issues needed for systematic development of divisional‐reporting to meet the requirements of a national statistical agency. Key aspects are the provision of appropriate conceptual distinctions relating to statistical structure of corporate organizations and patterns of intercorporate ownership consolidation. Practical experience gained by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's line of business reporting program is also highlighted. Two tables show details with respect to a proposed divisional income statement and balance‐sheet statement that a systematically developed division‐reporting unit can provide. The tables are related to existing statistics yielded by traditional company‐ and establishment‐reporting units. In effect the paper is part of a movement giving national economic accounting more microdata dimensions. Future research must integrate the proposed new statistical reporting unit within systems of national accounts presently constructed on the basis of a dual sectoring classification.
A BALANCED SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM
Authors: Berker Terry , van der Ploeg Frederick , Weale Martin
Published: March 2005

This paper describes the construction of a disaggregated system of 262 national accounts for the U.K. economy in 1975. The objective is to remove the discrepancies between income, expenditure, production and financial estimates which occur in practice. This is done with the aid of a generalized least squares algorithm for adjusting national accounts with subjective estimates of reliability of the various account items. The balanced system of accounts provides the cross‐section data base needed for the estimation of a consistent multisectoral dynamic model of the U.K. economy and yields the classification converters and input‐output tables necessary for such a model.
RETIREMENT INCOME RIGHTS AS A COMPONENT OF WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES*
Authors: Quinn Joseph F.
Published: March 2005

Americans have accumulated a considerable amount of future purchasing power in the form of Social Security and employer pension rights. These rights are a form of wealth. In this paper, we ask how their inclusion alters the wealth portfolios of a sample of Americans at or nearing normal retirement age. Data from the 1973 wave of the longitudinal Retirement History Study suggest that, for many Americans, retirement income rights are the dominant component of wealth, and are often more important than all other entries combined, including home equity. We also find that this wealth can be seriously eroded during times of high inflation. Because of differences in marketability, pension and Social Security rights are not perfect substitutes for more liquid assets. Nonetheless, since they are so large in magnitude, and have been shown to be key determinants of the behavior of older workers, they should not be ignored.
ESTIMATES OF THE HIDDEN ECONOMY IN AUSTRIA ON THE BASIS OF OFFICIAL STATISTICS
Authors: Franz Alfred
Published: March 2005

By definition, the hidden economy eludes straight observation by means of official statistics. Nevertheless, attempts to quantify these phenomena usually make reference to official materials in various respects, e.g. as regards definition, or when evaluating the relative importance or some indirect reflections of such activities. In this context, official statistics may serve as a particularly useful reference when those sections of the economy are concerned which are hardly or not at all susceptible to hidden activities. Such sections can be identified in terms of industry and in terms of occupation.

In the present investigation such techniques have been used to a large extent and only official statistics have been drawn upon as a data source. Accordingly, the outcome matches closely with national accounts concepts and existing national classifications of various socio‐economic statistics. The estimates refer to the hidden (“off the records”) activities of the self‐employed as well as to similar activities of employees, the unemployed etc. (“moonlighting”). Per se criminal activities have not been included, however. As regards the self‐employed the estimates basically rely on income differentials observed between small scale entrepreneurs and their employees. As regards employees numbers employed of various preselected occupational categories and of some additional groups of non‐employed have been processed successively, matching them e.g. with comparable data on time budgets and regional frequency.

The outcome largely confirms common experience or expectations as regards the fields where hidden activities assume significant relative importance whereas the overall size of the hidden economy turned out fairly small as compared with official GDP.
EVALUATING THE DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE*
Authors: van't Eind Gerrit Jan , van Fulpen Hans , Pommer Evert , Ruitenberg Leendert
Published: March 2005

This article evaluates the distribution of public expenditure on subsidized goods and services over income categories. It is argued that undifferentiated application of usual measures of dispersion must be rejected when judging the distribution of these expenditures, because there are hardly any subsidized goods and services for which the government aims at equal consumption. Such an application requires a normative distribution of expenditure. The normative distribution of expenditure is derived from a normative distribution of consumption and the distribution of normative charges. Central elements are needs of consumers and their financial capacity. The normative distribution of consumption is based on government intentions with respect to the goods and services under consideration.
DOES CONSUMPTION ENTAIL INCOME? IMPLICATIONS OF THE DUAL CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE FOR THE INCOME SIDE OF THE HOUSEHOLD SECTOR IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS*
Authors: Reich Utz‐Peter
Published: March 2005

In the future revision of the SNA the dual classification of flows in the national accounts will gain some importance with respect to consumption expenditures. It is likely that outlays of different institutions for consumption are added to form a new aggregate “individual consumption.” The question is whether this development requires an adjustment on the income side of the household accounts.

In order to find an answer it is first necessary to scrutinize the concept of disposable income in its standard form, and in its different variations. The result is a distinction between “disposable income in the strict sense” and “income after distribution,” where the standard definition actually realizes the latter concept. It is then shown that the dual structure of the accounts does not permit the adding of individual consumption to saving of households so that the concept of enlarged income defeats its purpose.
THE TREATMENT OF INTEREST AND FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: THE OLD “BUNDLE” VERSUS THE NEW “UNBUNDLE” APPROACH
Authors: Mamalakis Markos J.
Published: March 2005

As is widely recognized both in the literature and by the practitioners, the treatment of financial intermediaries has been one of the most controversial issues in national accounting. This has been so largely because no one up to now has been able to define the output of banks and other financial intermediaries. In the present paper, a theory of services in general and of financial services in particular is used to demonstrate that financial intermediaries produce at least six commodity type services. Furthermore, it is argued that in order to solve the banking imputation problem it is necessary to separate the theory of interest rates from the theory of financial services and examine the interdependence between them. The gross interest rate must be unbundled because it contains three distinct components. These are, first, the pure interest rate, which reflects payment for a factor‐type service; second, payments for six commodity‐type services, which reflect the output of financial intermediaries; and, third, payments for unilateral transfers. The new unbundled approach is contrasted to the old bundle approach used and/or advocated by standard economic theory, the SNA, Sunga and the Ruggleses. Furthermore, it is recommended that payments for the pure interest rate be considered as part of income of the paying enterprise or sector while payments for financial services by enterprises to other enterprises should be considered as intermediate purchases.
MODELING AGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERSECTORAL TRANSFER PRICES AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Authors: Gollop Frank M.
Published: March 2005

The value‐added model underlies current measures of aggregate productivity growth. Unbiased estimates result only if the economy is closed to trade in foreign‐produced material inputs and all domestic intersectoral transactions are characterized by marginal cost pricing. Neither condition typically holds.

This paper identifies these biases and proposes a delivery‐to‐final‐demand framework, a modified form of that first introduced by Domar. The rate of aggregate productivity growth is decomposed into terms identifying the contributions of total factor productivity growth within individual sectors, the reallocation of the economy's primary inputs among sectors, and changes in the allocative efficiency of markets for intermediate goods. The adjustments necessary to remove biases from existing value‐added estimates are derived.
TRENDS IN AGGREGATE HOUSEHOLD WEALTH IN THE US., 1900–83
Authors: Wolff EdwardN.
Published: March 2005

New estimates of aggregate household wealth for the U S. covering selected years in the period from 1900 to 1983 are presented. I find that marketable wealth per capita grew at 1.46 percent per year in real terms over the 1900–83 period, while real wealth per household grew at 0.81 percent per year. However, the growth rate was not uniform over the period, with the rates high during the 1900–29 and the 1949–69 periods, and slow during the other years. Moreover, real per capita wealth actually increased more slowly than real per capita disposable income and real per capita GNP over the century. I also find dramatic changes in the composition of household wealth over the century. In particular, both tangibles and fixed claim assets increased relative to total assets over the period from 1900 to 1983, while equities fell from about half to a quarter. Owner‐occupied housing increased only moderately as a proportion of assets, from 17 percent in 1900 to 20 percent in 1983. Unincorporated business equity fell from over a third of total assets to 12 percent. Among financial assets, the biggest relative growth occurred in deposits in financial institutions, which grew from 8 percent in 1900 to 22 percent in 1983. Corporate stock had the most volatile behavior in the household portfolio, growing from 13 percent of total assets in 1900 to 27 percent in 1929, falling to 10 percent in 1949, rising to 22 percent in 1965, and then falling to 11 percent by 1983. Debt as a proportion of total assets rose from 5 percent in 1900 to 16 percent in 1983. Finally, both pension reserves and social security wealth increased relative to marketable assets from virtually zero in 1900 to 12 and 48 percent, respectively.
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF AUSTRALIAN GDP IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Authors: Haig Bryan
Published: March 2005

This paper summarises the results of a new comparison of the level of Australian and U.K. real product in the 1890s, obtained by the direct deflation of money values of GDP by relative prices. The object of the study was to provide a check on the existing comparisons, obtained by extrapolation of time series of real GDP, as shown, for example, in Maddison (1982). Existing estimates imply that in the 1890s Australian GDP per capita was about 50 percent higher in the U.K. and U.S.A. and more than twice that for the average of 12 other western countries. The present study suggests these results probably overstate Australia's real GDP, and that Australian real GDP per capita was 36 percent higher than the U.K. in 1891 and 3 percent higher in 1900. Personal consumption per capita was 15 percent higher in Australia than in the U.K. in 1891, but about the same level in 1900.

Although this study compares prices and GDP in the colony of New South Wales with those in the U.K., the colony may be taken as representative of Australia as a whole.1
THE ECONOMIC WELL‐BEING OF THE ELDERLY
Authors: Crystal Stephen , Shea Dennis
Published: March 2005

Estimating the elderly's relative economic well‐being is of policy importance, but the procedure poses several technical problems. We propose a methodology for such comparison and present results from its application. Household income of persons is adjusted for household size, underreporting of unearned income, and the annuitized value of assets. By this measure, the elderly are on average 124 percent as well off as the nonelderly. Their households are on average 183 percent as well off as those of children under 6. Inequality is greater than at any other age and increases further for those over 75.
DIFFERENCES IN THE MEASUREMENT OF WEALTH, WEALTH INEQUALITY AND WEALTH COMPOSITION OBTAINED FROM ALTERNATIVE U.S. WEALTH SURVEYS
Authors: Juster F. Thomas , Kuester Kathleen A.
Published: March 2005

Since household wealth surveys have been widely used to study saving and other issues, it is important to examine the reliability of the various survey estimates of wealth. In this paper the authors assess the quality characteristics of the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Men and the Retirement History Survey, as compared to the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances. We find that the NLS and especially the RHS underreport wealth and wealth concentration. The underestimates of wealth held in the form of common stock, business equity, and investment real estate equity are substantial. The principal problem lies in underrepresentation of both tails of the wealth and income distributions, with the consequences of underrepresenting the upper tail being especially serious for wealth measurement. We examine several potential reasons for the underrepresentation.
ECONOMIC RENT AND ESTIMATION OF SOVIET GNP GROWTH
Authors: Liefert William M.
Published: March 2005

The extraction of fuels and metals and production of agricultural goods in the USSR involve increasing marginal cost, which generates economic rent. In computing Soviet GNP accounts, though, the CIA excludes economic rent in measuring value added. The effect is to value output at average, as opposed to marginal, cost. The exclusion of rent understates the shares of fuels, metals, and agriculture in Soviet GNP, which adversely affects the CIA's calculations of Soviet growth. In this paper, the author estimates the economic rent generated by Soviet extraction of fuels and metals and agricultural production. He then uses the estimates to recompute the shares of these sectors in Soviet GNP, and GNP growth. The results suggest that inclusion of economic rent in value added (or alternatively, marginal cost valuation of output) more than doubles the share in GNP of mining (fuels and metals extraction), and increases agriculture's share during the 1980s from 20 percent to about 25 percent. The reestimates of Soviet GNP growth also differ from those of the CIA by 10–30 percent.
WEALTH AND CONSUMER HORIZON: EVIDENCE FROM A DEVELOPING ECONOMY
Authors: Laumas Prem S.
Published: March 2005

This paper presents new evidence on the length of consumer horizon, which represents an important aspect of the Permanent Income Hypothesis. It uses data on private wealth of India for 1949–50 to 1974–75. Time varying parameter estimation is used to derive annual values of consumer discount rate and horizon. The findings support Friedman's view that horizon is approximately three years long. The author discusses the plausibility of his findings.
REGIONAL ACCOUNTS IN ACTION: CONCERNING METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS FROM A BELGIAN PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Capron H. , Thys‐Clement F.
Published: March 2005

In this paper we address the methodological problems encountered in the building of regional accounts. These problems are discussed by describing the methodological and conceptual options applied in an original and recent experience with regional accounts in Belgium. A comparison is offered with alternative choices concerning the regionalisation of main aggregates made in some other countries. The reasons for the urgency of an appropriate regional accounting framework (a regional equivalent of the universal SNA) are outlined in the conclusion.
HOUSEHOLD AND ENTERPRISE SAVING AND CAPITAL FORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A MARKET TRANSACTIONS VIEW
Authors: Nancy  , Ruggles Richard
Published: March 2005

Contrary to conventional macro theory, it is not the consumption function in terms of either the permanent income or the life‐cycle theory of saving that has furnished the saving for enterprise capital formation in the United States. Household sector accounts indicate that household gross saving, correctly measured, did not exceed household gross capital formation in the United States over the period since 1947. Furthermore, historical data on enterprise saving and capital formation in the United States, and cross‐section tax return data of U.S. corporations indicate that the gross saving for many enterprise sectors has been equal to or greater than their gross capital formation. There are exceptions, however: these same sources indicate that public utilities have borrowed substantially to finance their capital formation. Finally, it is argued that employer pension and insurance reserves held by financial institutions for future benefit payments represent retained income of a nature similar to undistributed profits, and that these constitute a source of saving in the economy.
METHODS OF ESTIMATING HOUSEHOLD EQUIVALENCE SCALES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
Authors: Nelson Julie A.
Published: March 2005

This paper presents empirical evidence regarding key assumptions of the Rothbarth and Barten methods of constructing household equivalence scales. The assumption of separability in the Rothbarth model is investigated by examining the implied intra‐household allocation of specific goods and by examining studies of economies of scale in household consumption. The assumption of the exogeneity of the distribution parameters in the Barten model is related to the results of empirical studies of clothing expenditures. This paper suggests that empirical evidence fails to support the assumptions maintained in these theoretically sophisticated models of household income equivalence.
VERTICALLY INTEGRATED PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES: TESTS OF STANDARD ASSUMPTIONS
Authors: Miller Jack L. , Gowdy Johan M.
Published: March 2005

In this paper we use an input‐output framework to examine two criticisms of standard measures of total factor productivity. These criticisms are (1) that the contribution of capital to productivity growth is underestimated, and (2) that the use of cost shares to weigh factor input contribution is questionable. Using various vertically integrated productivity measures we find that capital's productivity contribution is underestimated in the neoclassical formulation. We also find that in a Pasinetti‐Rymes growth model, factor shares do not approximate output elasticities. We conclude that the argument made by Pasinetti, Rymes, and others is supported, that in long‐run productivity analysis capital should not be treated as a primary input, but should be measured as an intermediate, produced input.
COMPARING ECONOMIC WELL‐BEING AMONG ELDERLY AMERICANS
Authors: Rendall Michael S. , Speare Alden
Published: March 2005

Income‐only and income‐net worth measures of elderly economic well‐being are derived from a single public welfare function‐optimizing model of household production and intertemporal resource allocation. These measures are estimated with data on United States elderly in 1984 from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The income‐net worth measure also incorporates independently estimated work‐life expectancies and earnings replacement rates. Under both measures, minority, moderately disabled, and unmarried female elderly are the poorest sub‐populations. Increasing poverty with age is found under the income‐only measure, but not the income‐net worth measure.
CHANGE OR PERMANENCE? GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN CAPITALIST ECONOMIES
Authors: Setterfield Mark
Published: March 2005

A Review of W. Lazonick, Competitive Advantage on the Shopfloor
SERVICE PRODUCTION IN HISTORICAL NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
Authors: Krantz Olle
Published: March 2005

Constant price calculation of service production is a problematic issue in contemporary national accounts, and it is far more so in historical series. The indicator method has been suggested as one way of coming to terms with volume calculations. This method is scrutinized, and it is claimed that it does not represent the solution for historical matters. Instead, various techniques have to be used for various parts of the total. The methods of deflating service production in five countries' historical national accounts as well as the consequences of using different methods are compared. Most often, existing series are not compatible with those for goods production, which of course has repercussions on attempts to study e.g. productivity. It is concluded that much work has to be done to improve the methodology and to arrive at a common international framework for historical national accounts.
THE DEGREE AND PATTERN OF INCOME IMMOBILITY IN SWEDEN
Authors: Gustafsson Björn
Published: March 2005

This paper studies immobility in the distribution of income using Swedish data. Tax data shows immobility in personal income to be a decreasing function of the length of the period over which it is studied and an increasing function of initial age. The results show immobility to be larger among males than among females. Based on a household income survey it is found that when the time period expands from one to two years, the Gini‐coefficient of equivalent income per person decreases by five percent. A sample of males indicates that income immobility between generations in Sweden is low.
USE AND MISUSE OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS FROM A MODELING PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Richter Josef
Published: March 2005

National accounts aggregates are not only abused as welfare indicators, there is also a considerable misuse in economic analysis and in modeling. Characteristics of national accounts‐such as consistency, homogeneity and comprehensiveness‐may turn into major disadvantages in the case of improper use. The main sources of misuse are the confusion of concepts, inadequate statistical units, the role of aggregation and what might be called “modeling on the basis of the results of modeling.” A plea is made for different data sets for different analytical purposes, for separate treatment of descriptive data, analytical data and modeling results, correct labeling and for a more open information strategy.
AN HISTORICAL SOCIAL ACCOUNTING MATRIX FOR THE NETHERLANDS (1938)
Authors: Den Bakker Gert P. , de Gijt Jan , Keuning Steven J.
Published: March 2005

This article presents an historical Social Accounting Matrix (1938) for the Netherlands, including related, non‐monetary tables on demographic characteristics, employment, etc.
AN ALTERNATIVE TO DOUBLE DEFLATION FOR MEASURING REAL INDUSTRY VALUE‐ADDED
Authors: Durand René
Published: March 2005

This article proposes a new method to compute the real value‐added of industries which would substitute for the traditional double deflation method. The new method consists of deflating industries' direct and indirect contributions to final demand deliveries (their value‐added by commodity) by the respective final demand commodity prices. The article shows that the new industry real value‐added measures have better statistical and analytical properties than those obtained by the double deflation method.
MEASURING INEQUALITY WITHIN THE HOUSEHOLD
Authors: Woolley Frances R. , Marshall Judith
Published: March 2005

The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of measures of inequality within households. We focus primarily on two types of inequality, first, inequality in money incomes, second, inequality in control over household resources. Control is measured in two ways: first, as control over the management of household finances and, second, as influence over household decision‐making. We discuss arguments for and against each of the measures of inequality, and compare the measures against one another in terms of the level of inequality each measure finds. The paper does not attempt to explain inequality; instead, its aim is to discuss the question “What is it that we wish to explain?”

Perhaps less important, but also revealing, within the 21–34 age group, 90 percent of the males and 80 percent of the females felt that the other partner had more closet space. (“Poll suggests young marriages in big trouble.” The Ottawa Citizen, August 19, 1990.)
THE DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND EXPENDITURE IN PORTUGAL: 1980 AND 1990
Authors: Govela Miguel , Tavares José
Published: March 2005

From 1980 to 1990 Portugal experienced a generalized liberalization of economic activity, due in large part to its 1986 integration in the European Union. This paper studies the changes in the Portuguese distribution of household income and expenditure during this period, using micro‐data on household budgets and applying recent developments in statistical inference for Lorenz curves. We find a significant increase in six measures of welfare and an unambiguous decrease in the inequality of the respective distributions. Different explanations for the findings of decreased inequality are discussed.
ON THE INTERPRETATION AND APPLICABILITY OF A “GREEN NATIONAL PRODUCT”
Authors: Aaheim Asbjørn , Nyborg Karine
Published: March 2005

Several economists have recently suggested that the national product should be adjusted for the value of environmental damages. In this paper we look at some of the difficulties one encounters when the correcting formulae derived from simple theoretical models are transferred to applied national accounting. In particular, the paper is concerned with the question of whether a corrected national income measure will actually provide relevant information for policy‐makers.

It is shown that a “green national product” will be very difficult to interpret. In general, it may not give any indications of the necessity of imposing stronger environmental policy actions. Nor does it indicate the hypothetical state of the economy after a change in environmental efforts.
THE 1993 REVISED SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Authors: Postner Harry H.
Published: March 2005

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.