Conceptual Incongruity In The National Accounts

This paper is presented as a general contribution to discussions underway with respect to the revision of the SNA. The author argues that underlying premises in the current (1968) version of the SNA tend to favour quantitative aspects of production and that the treatment of certain financial items such as interest and valuation of inventory change have been compromised in regard to their effects on production. The need for alternative approaches to these components in the subaccounts of the SNA is emphasized, the rationale involved is explained and modifications to some of the subaccounts are proposed. The alternative approaches affect the boundaries of production and it is argued that the new boundaries would provide a more realistic representation of current values of gross domestic product. It is also noted that the modified production accounts are more compatible with the balance sheet subaccounts. The author shows that production subaccounts on input‐output and productivity are based on the need for quantitative measures in analysing growth in the volume of goods and services produced and of productivity to determine efficiency of factor utilization. It is argued that the existing conceptual structure of these two subaccounts meet these needs and should be retained in their present form.