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A New Architecture for the U.S. National Accounts

A New Architecture for the U.S. National Accounts brings together a distinguished group of contributors to initiate the development of a comprehensive and fully integrated set of United States national accounts. The purpose of the new architecture is not only to integrate the existing systems of accounts, but also to identify gaps and inconsistencies and expand and incorporate systems of nonmarket accounts with the core system. 

Since the United States economy accounts for almost thirty percent of the world economy, it is not surprising that accounting for this huge and diverse set of economic activities requires a decentralized statistical system. This volume outlines the major assignments among institutions that include the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Labor, the Census Bureau, and the Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 

An important part of the motivation for the new architecture is to integrate the different components and make them consistent. This volume is the first step toward achieving that goal.

Table of Contents

Prefatory Note ix

Introduction 1
Dale W. Jorgenson, J. Steven Landfeld, and William D. Nordhaus

1.Blueprint for Expanded and Integrated U.S. Accounts: review, Assessment, and Next Steps 13
Dale W. Jorgenson and J. Steven Landefeld

2. The Architecture of the System of National Accounts: A Three International Comparison of Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom 113
Karen Wilson 

3. Principles of National Accounting for Nonmarket Accounts 143
William D. Nordhaus

4. A Framework for Nonmarket Accounting 161
Katherine G. Abraham and Christopher Mackie

5.The "Architecture" of Capital Accounting: Basic Design Principles 193
Charles R. Hulten

6. Integrating Industry and National Economic Accounts: First Steps and Future Improvements 215
Ann M. Lawson, Brian C. Moyer, Sumiye Okubo, and Mark A Planting

7. Aggregation Issues in Integrating and Accelerating the BEA’s Accounts: Improved Methods for Calculating GDP by Industry 263
Brian C. Moyer, Marshall B. Reinsdorf, and Robert E. Yuskavage
Comment: W. Erwin Diewert

8. Integrating Expenditure and Income Data: What to do With the Statistical Discrepancy? 309
J. Joseph Beaulieu and Eric J. Bartlesman

9. An Integrated BEA/BLS Production Account: The First Step and Theoretical Considerations 355
Barbara M. Fraumeni, Michael J. Harper, Susan G. Powers, and Robert Yuskavage
Comment: Carol Corrado

10. The Integration of the Canadian Productivity Accounts within the System of National Accounts: Current Status and Challenges Ahead 439
John R. Baldwin and Tarek M. Harchaoui

11. Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts for the United States: Draft SNA-USA 471
Albert M. Teplin, Rochelle Antoniewicz, susan Hume McIntosh, Michael G. Palumbo, Genevieve Solomon, Charles van Mead, Karin Moses, and Brent Moulton

12. Micro and Macro Data Integration: The Case of Capital 541
Rabdy A.Becker, John Haltiwanger, Ron S. Jarmin, Shawn D. Klimek, and Daniel Wilson

Panel Remarks 611
Thomas L. Mesenbourg, U.S. Census Bureau, Kathleen P. Utgoff, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Larry Slifman, Board of Governors Federal Reserve System, Katherine G. Abraham, University of Maryland and NAtinoal Bureau of Economic Research, J. steven Landefeld, Bureau of Economic Analysis

Contributors 625
Author Index 629
Subject Index 633

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