History of National Accounts SNA/ESA CONTRACTOR IS ACTING UNDER A FRAMEWORK CONTRACT CONCLUDED WITH THE COMMISSION

Overview Theoretical background of the System of National Accounts System of National Accounts – Historical development 2008 SNA/ESA 2010

Theoretical background of national accounts The concepts, the design and the structure of national accounts draw heavily on economic theory and principles. Basic concepts such as production, consumption and capital formation are rooted in economic theory. The concepts of national accounts show the pressure of (changing) policy needs and as well as the influence of different economic theories.

Theoretical background of national accounts The original motivation for the development of national accounts and the systematic measurement of employment was the need for accurate measures of aggregate economic activity. This need became more relevant in the Great Depression and as a basis for Keynesian macroeconomic stabilisation policy and wartime economic planning.

Theoretical background of national accounts - milestones The period of the Great Depression and high unemployment Kusznets: National Income 1929 – 1932 (1934); emphasis on the production side, shares of the different types of income Keynes: General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936); emphasis on final demand Clark: National Income and Outlay (1937)

Theoretical background of national accounts - milestones Development of econometrics Macroeconomic model building and planning Jan Tinbergen, Ragnar Frisch; Tinbergen developed the first national comprehensive macroeconomic model in 1936 Interindustry modeling Leontief: Die Wirtschaft als Kreislauf (1928), Leontief: The Structure of American Economy, 1919-1929 (1941)

Theoretical background of national accounts - milestones World War II Keynes: How to Pay for the War (1940) UK Treasury: Analysis of the Sources of War Finance and an Estimate of the National Income and Expenditure in 1938 and 1940 (1941) League of Nations Study (1947) Richard Stone chairman, formulation of a set of accounts

Theoretical background of national accounts - milestones Postwar period OEEC and UN System of National Accounts (1951) Framework for planning Europe’s economic recovery; basis for allocating the Marshall Plan aid UN System of National Accounts (1968) More interest in structural analysis Integration of make and use tables as the basis for input-output analysis; distinction production sphere (industries, commodities) - accounts for institutional sectors

Theoretical background of national accounts - milestones Seventies Is growth obsolete (Tobin, Nordhaus 1973) Extended accounts (Kendrick 1979) The Feasibility of Welfare-Oriented Measures to Supplement the National Accounts and Balances (United Nations 1977) Externalities Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (United Nations, European Commission, IMF, OECD, World Bank, 2003)

Theoretical background of national accounts - milestones System of Social and Demographic Statistics Demographic Accounting and Model-Building (Stone, 1971) Towards a System of Social and Demographic Statistics (United Nations, 1975) Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs) SAM's were originally developed at the “Cambridge Growth Project” in the UK (Stone and Brown, 1962). SAMs were extensively used by the World Bank for assessing development policies; SAMs form the backbone of Computable general equilibrium (CGE) Models

2008 SNA/ESA 2010 The European system ESA 2010 is based on the concepts of the 2008 SNA, which provides guidelines on national accounting for all countries throughout the world. The differences between the SNA 2008 and the ESA 2010 can be attributed to the specific role that results of national accounts play in the EU. The main difference is that the 2008 SNA has the character of a recommendation, whereas the ESA 2010 is laid down in a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

2008 SNA/ESA 2010 Two groups of other differences may be distinguished (a) Differences in the presentation: (1) In the ESA 2010 there are separate chapters on transactions in products, distributive transactions and financial transactions. In contrast, in the 2008 SNA these transactions are explained in chapters arranged by account, e.g. chapters on the production account, the primary distribution of income account, the capital account and the rest of the world account. (2) The ESA 2010 describes a concept by providing a definition and a listing of what is included and what is excluded. The 2008 SNA describes concepts usually in more general terms and explains the rationale behind the conventions adopted.

2008 SNA/ESA 2010 b) The ESA 2010 concepts are in several instances more specific and precise than those of the 2008 SNA: (1) The 2008 SNA does not contain specific criteria on the distinction between market, for own final use and non-market categorisation of output. The ESA has therefore introduced more detailed guidance to ensure a uniform approach. (2) The ESA 2010 assumes that several types of household production of goods, such as the weaving of cloth and the making of furniture, are not significant in Member States and therefore need not be recorded. (3) The ESA 2010 makes reference to institutional arrangements in the EU, such as the Intrastat system for recording intra-EU flows of goods and the contributions by the Member States to the EU.

2008 SNA/ESA 2010 b) The ESA 2010 concepts are in several instances more specific and precise than those of the 2008 SNA: (4) The ESA 2010 contains EU-specific classifications, e.g. Classification of products by activity (CPA) for products and NACE Rev. 2 for industries (both are harmonised with the corresponding UN classifications). (5) The ESA 2010 contains an additional classification for all external transactions: they are divided into those between residents of the EU and those with residents from outside the EU. (6) The ESA 2010 contains a rearrangement of the 2008 SNA subsectors for the financial corporations sector, to meet the needs of the European Monetary Union. The ESA 2010 can be more specific than the 2008 SNA, because the ESA 2010 primarily applies to the Member States. For the data needs in the Union, the ESA should also be more specific.

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