Measuring National Output and National Income
Measuring National Output and National Income
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National Income Accounts
When judging whether the economy is doing well or
poorly, it is natural to look at the total income that
everyone in the economy is earning.
To have this number make sense, it is also best to look
at income per person.
Macroeconomics relies heavily on data, much of it
collected by the government
To study the economy, we need data on total output,
total income, total consumption, investment and so on.
One of the main sources of this data are the national
income and product accounts, which describe the
various components of the national income in the
economy
GDP measures two things at once: the total income of
everyone in the economy and the total expenditure
on the economy’s output of goods and services.
The reason that GDP can perform the trick of
measuring both total income and total expenditure is
that these two things are really the same.
For an economy as a whole, income must equal
expenditure.
The reason that an economy’s income is the same as
its expenditure is simply that every transaction has
two parties: a buyer and a seller.
Every dollar of spending by some buyer is a dollar of
income for some seller
This process can be seen using a Circular Flow
Diagram.
Households buy goods and services from firms, and firms use their
revenue from sales to pay wages to workers, rent to landowners, and
profit to firm owners. GDP equals the total amount spent by
households in the market for goods and services. It also equals the
total wages, rent, and profit paid by firms in the markets for the factors
of production.
Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a
measure of the income and
expenditures of an economy.
GDP is the total market value of a
country’s output.
It is the market value of all final goods
and services produced within a country
in a period of time by factors of
production located within a country.
The goods and services in the definition
refer to final goods and services.
How much is the current GDP for Zimba
bwe?
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) For
Zimbabwe
GDP is:
the market value of all
final goods and services
produced within a country
in a given period of time.
What Is Counted and Not Counted in
GDP?
GDP includes all items produced in the economy and sold legally
in markets.
GDP excludes services that are produced and consumed at home
and that never enter the marketplace.
Caring labor, the work that is normally produced by women.
Because GDP does not count it, it diminishes its importance.
GDP also excludes black market items, such as illegal drugs.
GDP also excludes activities in informal markets;
a Consumption
n 68 %
d
COMPONENTS OF GDP (USA, 1994): THE EXPENDITURE
APPROACH ($ Billions)
Total Gross Domestic Product $6738.4 100%
Personal Consumption ( C) 4628.4 68.7
Durable Goods 591.5 8.8
Nondurable Goods 1394.3 20.7
Services 2642.7 39.2
Gross Private Investment 1032.9 15.3
Nonresidential 697.6 10.4
Residential 283.0 4.2
Change in business inventories 52.2 0.8
Government Purchases of Goods and Services 1175.3 17.4
State-Central Government 437.3 6.5
Local Government 738.0 11.0
Net Exports (X-M) -98.2 -1.5
Exports 718. 10.7
Imports 816.9 12.1
The Income Approach
The income approach breaks GDP into
four components :
1. National Income
2. Depreciation
3. Indirect taxes minus subsidies
4. Net factor payments to the rest of the
world
GDP = National Income + Depreciation
+(Indirect taxes – subsidies) + Net
factor payments to the rest of the
world
Income Approach
National Income – is the total income earned by factors of
production owned by the country’s citizens.
It is the sum of 5 items:
a. Compensation of employees
b. Corporate profits
c. Proprietor's income
d. Net Interest
e. Rental income
Compensation of employees includes wages and salaries
paid to households by firms and by the government, as well
as various supplements to wages and salaries such as
contributions that employers make to social insurance and
private pensions.
Proprietor’s income is income of unincorporated
businesses-sole traders/producers and corporate profits
are the income of corporate businesses
Net interest is the interest paid by business , (Interest paid
by households and by the government is not counted in GDP
because it is not assumed to flow from production of goods
and services)
Depreciation
The measure of the decrease in value of capital
assets through obsolescence, wear and tear is called
depreciation.
This depreciation is part of the GDP using the income
approach
Depreciation is added back to GDP using the income
approach because we want to measure all income,
including income earned in replacing existing plant
and capital
Because national income does not include
depreciation (it was subtracted in computing profit) ,
to get total income (GDP) we need to add
depreciation
Indirect Taxes less Subsidies
In calculating final sales on the expenditure
side- indirect taxes, customs duties and
license fees are included.
These taxes must thus be accounted for on
the income side.
Indirect taxes are added to GDP and
subsidies are subtracted when using the
income approach.
Net Factor Payments to the Rest of
the World
NFP are equal to payments of factor incomes to the
rest of the world less the receipts of factor income
from the rest of the world.
National income is defined as the income of factors of
production owned by the country.
GDP is however output produced by factors of
production located within the country
In other words National income contains some income
that should not be counted in GDP- the income a
country’s citizens earn abroad and this income must
be subtracted.
In addition. National Income does not include some
income that is counted in GDP- the foreigners’ income
in the country whose GDP we are calculating and this
Components of GDP, 1994: Income
Approach (USA)
Billions of % of GDP
Dollars
Gross Domestic Product 6738.4 100%
National Income 5458.4 81.0
Compensation of Employees (Wages 4004.6 59.4
& Salaries)
Proprietors’ Income 473.7 7.0
Corporate Profits 542.7 8.1
Net Interest 409.7 6.1
Rental Income 27.7 0.4
Depreciation 715.3 10.6
Indirect Taxes Minus Subsidies 553.1 8.2
Net Factor Payments to the Rest 11.5 0.2
of the World
Other Measures of Income
When the government computes the nation’s GDP
every three months (quarterly), it also computes
various other measures of income to get a more
complete picture of what’s happening in the economy.
These other measures differ from GDP by excluding or
including certain categories of income.
What follows is a brief of five of these income
measures, ordered from largest to smallest.
1. Gross National Product (GNP)
2. Net National Product (NNP)
3. National Income
4. Personal Income
5. Disposable Personal Income
Gross National Product (GNP)
Gross national product (GNP) is the total income
earned by a nation’s permanent residents (called
nationals).
It differs from GDP by including income that our
citizens earn abroad and excluding income that
foreigners earn here.
For example, when a Zimbabwean citizen works
temporarily in the United States, his production is
part of U.S. GDP, but it is not part of U.S. GNP. (It is
part of Zimbabwe’s GNP.)
For most countries, including Zimbabwe, domestic
residents are responsible for most domestic
production, so GDP and GNP are quite close.
Net National Product
From GDP, we can calculate the Net National
Product (NNP)
Recall that the expenditure approach to GDP
includes gross investment as one of its
components.
GDP does not, therefore account for the fact
that some of the nation’s capital stock is used
up in the process of producing the nation’s
product.
Net National Product (NNP) = GDP minus
Depreciation
National Income
To calculate National Income (NI) we subtract
indirect taxes minus subsidies (i.e. we
subtract indirect business taxes and add
subsidies)
We subtract indirect taxes because they are
they are included in NNP but do not represent
payment to factors of production and are thus
not part of national income.
We add subsidies because they are payments
to factors of production but are not included in
NNP
Personal Income
Personal income is total income of households.
To calculate personal income from national income,
we subtract (1) corporate profits minus dividends
and (2) social insurance payments.
In addition two items must be added to national
income to calculate personal income: (1) personal
interest received from government and consumers
(2) transfer payments to persons
Corporate profts are paid to households in the form
of dividends and dividends are clearly part of
personal income.
The profits that remain after dividends have been
paid (profits minus dividends) are not paid to
households as income- this has to be subtracted
when computing personal income
Personal Income cont
Because these payments are not received
by households, they too must be subtracted
from national income when computing
personal income
Interest payments by government are not
counted in GDP and thus are not reflected in
National Income figures.
But these payments are income received by
households, so must be added to NI when
computing personal income
Similarly, transfer payments to persons are
not counted in GDP because they do not
represent the production of any goods or
Disposable Income
Disposable personal income is the income that
households and non-corporate businesses have left
after satisfying all their obligations to the government.
It equals personal income minus personal taxes and
certain non-tax payments (such as traffic tickets).
Disposable income is therefore after-tax income
Disposable income = Personal Income minus personal
taxes
The amount of disposable income left after total
personal expenditure is personal saving
The personal saving rate is the percentage (%) of
disposable income that is saved and is an important
indicator of household behavior.
GDP, GNP, National Income, Personal Income and
Disposable Personal Income (1994)-USA
GDP 6738.4
plus Receipts of factor income from rest of World +167.1
Less: Payments of factor income to rest of world -178.6
Equals: GNP 6726.9
Less: Depreciation -715.3
Equals: Net National Product 6011.5
Less: Indirect taxes minus subsidies -553.1
Equals: National Income 5458.4
Less Corporate profits minus dividends -348.4
Less: Social Insurance payments -626.0
Plus: Personal interest income from government & +254.3
consumers
Plus: Transfer payments to persons +963.4
Equals: Personal Income 5701.7
Less: Personal Taxes -742.1
Equals: Disposable Income 4959.6
Income Measure and Well-
being
Although the various measures of
income differ in detail, they almost
always tell the same story about
economic conditions.
When GDP is growing rapidly, these
other measures of income are usually
growing rapidly
And when GDP is falling, these other
measures are usually falling as well.
For monitoring fluctuations in the
Measuring Economic Growth
We use real GDP to calculate the
economic growth rate.
The economic growth rate is the
percentage change in the quantity
of goods and services produced
from one year to the next.
We measure economic growth so
we can make:
Economic welfare comparisons
Measuring Economic Growth
Business Cycle Forecasts
Real GDP is used to measure
business cycle fluctuations.
These fluctuations are
probably accurately timed but
the changes in real GDP
probably overstate the
changes in total production
and people’s welfare caused
Real versus Nominal GDP
Nominal GDP values the production of
goods and services at current prices
(GDP measured at current prices)
Real GDP values the production of
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
GDP, Life Expectancy, and Literacy
Country Real GDP Per Life Expectancy Adult Literacy
Person (1997)
USA $29,010 77 years 99%
Japan 24,070 80 99
Germany 21,260 77 99
Mexico 8,370 72 90
Brazil 6,480 67 84
Russia 4,370 67 99
Indonesia 3,490 65 85
China 3,130 70 83
India 1,670 63 53
Pakistan 1,560 64 41
Bangladesh 1,050 58 39
Nigeria 920 50 59
Agriculture, Hunting, and 72 030 159 400 321 070 940 230 1693 463
Fishing
Mining and Quarrying 4 095 5 058 11 133 100 513 907 455
Manufacturing 41 033 68 796 122 833 602 364 3006 321
Electricity and Water 6 298 12 976 24 133 73 146 369 119
Construction 6 655 7 566 12 570 40 806 117 248
Finance and Insurance 21 914 29 479 68 320 707 840 2530 409
Real Estate 6 271 7 046 18 347 59 134 204 326
Distribution, Hotels and 48 269 74 261 135 795 460 785 1935 190
Restaurants
Transport and 27 635 69 188 171 312 413 158 1032 936
Communication
Public Administration 14 049 25 944 55 751 218 477 411 767
Education 28 806 37 495 65 128 256 715 522 441
Health 8 528 10 691 20 295 57 438 107 035
Domestic Services 1 444 1 819 2 467 9 361 63 987
Other Services 17 914 30 424 54 001 106 067 304 523
- Fin Int Services Indirectly -20 468 -41 892 -81 771 -164 248 -329 914
Measured
GDP at factor cost 284 475 498 252 1001 383 3881 785 12876 308
Net taxes on products 29 135 53 739 157 026 676 094 3647 813
Taxes on products 29 135 53 739 157 026 676 094 3647 813
-Subsidies on products 0 0 0 0 0
GDP at market prices 314 688 553 406 1160 269 4560 337 16527 388
At current Prices
Expenditure 2000 2001 2002 2003
2004
Final Consumption Expenditure 268 206 548 920 1375 445 6148 836 19363 501
Private Consumption Expenditure 200 378 455 285 1206 040 5519 414 14179 930
Consumption of Private Non-Profit Bodies 2 681 4 746 8 561 23 902
79 008
Government Consumption Expenditure 65 147 88 889 160 844 605 520
5104 563
Gross Capital Formation 47 361 36 119 -152 238 -1037 461 696 736
Gross Fixed Capital Formation 38 420 48 319 89 836 171 767 412 641
Total increase in Stocks 8 941 -12 201 -242 074 -1209 228
284 095
Domestic Expenditure 315 567 585 039 1223 208 5111 375 20060 237
Net Exports of Goods and Services - 880 -31 634 -62 939 -551 037
-3532 847
Exports of Goods and Services 118 151 105 235 93 022 954 323 9560 521
Less Imports of Goods and Services 119 031 136 868 155 961 1505 360 13093 369
Gross Domestic Product at market prices 314 688 553 406 1160 269 4560 337 16527 388
Net primary Income from abroad -11 286 -11 934 -8 930 -99 694 -1455 216
Primary income received from abroad 1 268 755 799 13 172 128 790
Primary income paid abroad 12 554 12 690 9 729 112 866 1584 006
Gross National Income 303 402 541 471 1151 339 4460 644 15072 172
At constant Prices
Expenditure 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Final consumption Expenditure 16 256 20 411 22 215 23 059 21 219
Private Consumption Expenditure 12 734 16 827 19 112 19 845 14 173
Consumption of Private Non-Profit Bodies 204 251 231 504 1 467
Government Consumption Expenditure 3 318 3 333 2 872 2 710 5 579
Gross Capital Formation 3 724 2 760 1 155 1 437 6 187
Gross Fixed Capital Formation 3 175 3 272 3 910 5 283 6 703
Increase in Stocks 549 - 512 -2 755 -3 847 - 516
Domestic Expenditure 19 980 23 170 23 370 24 495 27 406
Net Exports of Goods and Services - 113 -3 507 -5 150 - 188 -4 338
Statistical Discrepancy 2 185 2 470 1 502 -4 594 -4 272
Gross Domestic Product at market prices 22 052 22 133 19 722 19 713 18 796
Net primary Income from abroad -1 446 -1 323 - 731 -2 333 -9 741
Primary income received from abroad 84 61 39 31 14
Primary income paid abroad 1 609 1 407 796 2 642 10 603
Gross National Income 20 605 20 810 18 991 17 380 9 055