An overview is provided of the history, logic, merits and limitations of the national accounts. Past In the second half of the seventeenth century the first estimates of national income were made. These estimates served clear purposes, like demonstrating that a revision of the English tax system...

Without national accounts statistics, citizens, politicians, entrepreneurs and economists would be blind for the size, composition and development of national economies. This book provides a unique overview of the merits and limitations of the national accounts. Attention is paid to the three...

In this paper, the relevance of national accounts statistics and their underlying conceptual framework is investigated for their four roles: description and object of analysis, tool for analysis and forecasting, tool for communication and decision-making and input for alternative accounts...

In this paper, the four successive guidelines of the United Nations on national accounting are discussed in view of economic theory (Keynesian analysis, welfare, Hicksian income, input-output analysis, etc.) and data compilation issues (e.g. the link with concepts in administrative data...

This note briefly describes the merits and limitations of the national accounts, e.g. GDP per capita is a simple measure of material welfare, but not a comprehensive measure of welfare.

In some countries - the Netherlands, UK and USA - the expected economic implications of election platforms of political parties are evaluated by independent economic institutions prior to the election. This paper analyzes the merits and limitations of this process, taking 25 years of Dutch...

The official national accounts statistics do not show the role of human capital in the national economy. A set of satellite tables supplementing the standard national accounts statistics could serve this data need. In this satellite account, expenditure on education and training are recorded as...

This paper describes the history of the national accounts starting from the incidental estimates by Petty, King and Davenant in the seventeenth century. The period 1930-1950 was a revolution in terms of the roles and uses of the national accounts, e.g. the discovery of input-output analysis,...

This paper unveils the mystery of national accounts statistics. National accounts statistics are not facts. They are estimates of a universal accounting model (SNA93) for describing, analyzing and managing national economies. The operational versions of the universal model decide what is...