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Advanced Introduction to National Accounting
This clear and concise Advanced Introduction to National Accounting explores the post-1960 modernization of national accounting. John M. Hartwick offers insights into the arrival of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and user cost, highlighting the importance of Tornqvist index numbers and translog production, cost and utility functions in its modernization.
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Critical Acclaim
Contents
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Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.
This clear and concise Advanced Introduction to National Accounting explores the post-1960 modernization of national accounting. John M. Hartwick offers insights into the arrival of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and user cost, highlighting the importance of Tornqvist index numbers and translog production, cost and utility functions in its modernization.
Key features include:
• an exploration of personal income distribution and national accounting
• an exposition of the links between various forms of utility functions and index numbers
• a chapter devoted to the incorporation of the decline in stocks of natural capital into the national accounts
• a report on the measurement of welfare and GDP change arising from technical change and shifts in a nation’s terms of trade.
An important read for economics and accounting scholars, this Advanced Introduction offers useful insights to the key topics around national accounting. It will be a helpful tool for students on advanced macroeconomics and economics of natural resources courses.
This clear and concise Advanced Introduction to National Accounting explores the post-1960 modernization of national accounting. John M. Hartwick offers insights into the arrival of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and user cost, highlighting the importance of Tornqvist index numbers and translog production, cost and utility functions in its modernization.
Key features include:
• an exploration of personal income distribution and national accounting
• an exposition of the links between various forms of utility functions and index numbers
• a chapter devoted to the incorporation of the decline in stocks of natural capital into the national accounts
• a report on the measurement of welfare and GDP change arising from technical change and shifts in a nation’s terms of trade.
An important read for economics and accounting scholars, this Advanced Introduction offers useful insights to the key topics around national accounting. It will be a helpful tool for students on advanced macroeconomics and economics of natural resources courses.
Critical Acclaim
‘Who said national accounting was boring? In this comprehensive review of the underpinnings of national accounting, which reads like a conversation but never skips analytical rigour, John Hartwick provides the reader with a unique and inspiring guide to which one can always come back for reference for many years to come. In a constant back and forth between theory and applied issues, this book is candid about the assumptions and inspiring about the possibilities of the accounting framework. Economists, statisticians, experts and students will all find a lot to learn and ponder in these thoughtful reflections about how to organize economic data in order to obtain an accurate picture of values, costs, capital and, ultimately, social welfare and sustainability. If you take what counts to heart, read this book!’
– Marc Fleurbaey, Paris School of Economics, France
‘While the system of national accounts (SNA), in particular Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is the essential tool to measure the growth and development of national economies, there are few texts which detail the transformation of raw economic data into the GDP figures which must serve as reliable guides to economic policy. John Hartwick tackles this topic with the rigour and insight for which he is known.’
– Kirk Hamilton, LSE and the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford University, UK
‘This textbook on national accounting is a masterful exposition of the main theoretical issues pertaining to this subject matter. The author conducts a fascinating guided tour that covers important topics such as price indices, productivity measurement, the valuation of having access to more varieties of goods, the valuation of life extension, the measurement of social welfare and sustainability. The gist of highly technical issues is presented here in a transparent way, often with a personal touch. In addition to serving as a textbook for graduate students, this masterpiece will be extremely useful to both scholars and practitioners of national income accounting. General economists who are interested in the history of the development of concepts and debates on national accounting will find that this book is a valuable and user-friendly source of references.’
– Ngo Van Long, McGill University, Canada
– Marc Fleurbaey, Paris School of Economics, France
‘While the system of national accounts (SNA), in particular Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is the essential tool to measure the growth and development of national economies, there are few texts which detail the transformation of raw economic data into the GDP figures which must serve as reliable guides to economic policy. John Hartwick tackles this topic with the rigour and insight for which he is known.’
– Kirk Hamilton, LSE and the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford University, UK
‘This textbook on national accounting is a masterful exposition of the main theoretical issues pertaining to this subject matter. The author conducts a fascinating guided tour that covers important topics such as price indices, productivity measurement, the valuation of having access to more varieties of goods, the valuation of life extension, the measurement of social welfare and sustainability. The gist of highly technical issues is presented here in a transparent way, often with a personal touch. In addition to serving as a textbook for graduate students, this masterpiece will be extremely useful to both scholars and practitioners of national income accounting. General economists who are interested in the history of the development of concepts and debates on national accounting will find that this book is a valuable and user-friendly source of references.’
– Ngo Van Long, McGill University, Canada
Contents
Contents: Accounts Matrix; User Cost; Capital 2. Productivity Measurement 3. Index Numbers 4. Government, Housing and Banking 5. Natural Resources 6. International Trade 7. Life Extension; Population; Social Welfare measurement Index
