On spurious differences in growth performance and on the misuse of National Accounts data for governance purposes

Review of International Political Economy

Volumn 13, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 535-558

  Hartwig, Jochen ^a  

^a ETH ZURICH   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

Deflation methods; Governance; Inflation and growth comparisons; National Accounts; Statistical artifacts; Transatlantic growth gap

Indexed keywords

EID: 33749604594     PISSN: 09692290     EISSN: 14664526     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09692290600839758     Document Type: Review

References (55)

1. Ahmad, N., Lequiller, F., Marianna, P., Pilat, D., Schreyer, P. and Wölfl, A. (2003) 'Comparing Labour Productivity Growth in the OECD Area: The Role of Measurement', OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry Working Paper No. 14/2003.
2. Ahnert, H. and Kenny, G. (2004) 'Quality Adjustment of European Price Statistics and the Role for Hedonics', European Central Bank Occasional Paper No. 15.
3. BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] (2004) BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17: The Consumer Price Index (http://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch17.pdf).
4. Boskin, M. J., Dulberger, E. R., Gordon, R. J., Griliches, Z. and Jorgenson, D. W. (1996) 'Toward a More Accurate Measure of the Cost of Living: Final Report to the Senate Finance Committee', Washington, DC (http://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/boskinrpt.html).
5. Brett, E. A. (1985) The World Economy Since the War: The Politics of Uneven Development, London: Macmillan.
6. Cecchetti, S. G. and Wynne, M. A. (2003) 'Inflation Measurement and the ECB's Pursuit of Price Stability: A First Assessment', Economic Policy, 37(2): 395-434.
7. Economic Report of the President (1999), Washington, DC (http://origin.www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy00/pdf/1999 erp.pdf).
8. Eldridge, L. P. (1999) 'How Price Indexes Affect BLS Productivity Measures', Monthly Labor Review, February, 35-46.
9. Gerschenkron, A. (1951) A Dollar Index of Soviet Machinery Output, 1927-28 to 1937, Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
10. Gordon, R. J. (2000) 'The Boskin Commission and its Aftermath', NBER Working Paper No. 7759.
11. Grant, J. (2000) 'Bundesbank Mocks US IT Book-cooking', Financial Times, September 4.
12. Hall, R. E. and Jones, C. I. (1996) 'The Productivity of Nations', NBER Working Paper No. 5812.
13. Hall, R. E. and Jones, C. I. (1999) 'Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Per Worker Than Others?', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(1): 83-116.
14. Hartwig, J. (2001) 'Petty - oder: Die Geburt der Arbeitswertlehre aus ökonomischen Problemen des frühen Kapitalismuś, Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 26(4): 88-124.
15. Hartwig, J. and Schips, B. (2005) 'Verzerrungen von Konsumentenpreisindices und ihr Einfluss auf das 'reale' Wirtschaftswachstum - dargestellt am Beispiel der USA', Jahrbücher f̈ur National̈okonomie und Statistik, 225(4): 394-412.
16. Hoogvelt, A. (1997) Globalisation and the PostcolonialWorld: the New Political Economy of Development, London: Macmillan.
17. Hulten, C. R. (2003) 'Price Hedonics: A Critical Review', Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review, September, 5-15.
18. Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (1993) System of National Accounts 1993, Commission of the European Communities/Eurostat, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations,World Bank, Brussels, Luxembourg etc. (cit.: SNA 1993).
19. Jorgenson, D. W. (1995): Productivity, Vol. 2: International Comparisons of Economic Growth, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
20. Jorgenson, D. W. and Stiroh K. J. (2000) 'Raising the Speed Limit: U.S. Economic Growth in the Information Age', Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1: 125-211.
21. Kendrick, J. W. (1968) 'National Income and Product Accounts', in Sills, D. L. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 11, London: Collier-Macmillan, pp. 19-34.
22. Kendrick, J. W. (1996) 'Introduction and Overview', in Kendrick, J. W. (ed.), The New System of National Accounts, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 1-23.
23. Kohli, U. (2004) 'An Implicit Törnqvist Index of Real GDP', Journal of Productivity Analysis, 21(3): 337-53.
24. Kuznets, S. (1934) 'National Income 1929-1932', US Congress, S. Doc. 124, 73rd Congress, 2nd Session.
25. Landefeld, J. S., Parker, R. P. and Triplett, J. E. (1995) 'Preview of the Comprehensive Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts: BEA's New Featured Measures of Output and Prices', Survey of Current Business, July, 31-8.
26. Landefeld, J. S. and Grimm, B. T. (2000) 'A Note on the Impact of Hedonics and Computers on Real GDP', Survey of Current Business, December, 17-22.
27. Lebow, D. E. and Rudd, J. B. (2003) 'Measurement Error in the Consumer Price Index: Where Do We Stand?', Journal of Economic Literature, 41(1): 159-201.
28. Lucas, Jr., R. E. (1976) 'Econometric Policy Evaluation: a Critique', in Brunner, K. and Meltzer, A. H. (eds), The Phillips Curve and Labor Markets, Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Vol. 1, Journal of Monetary Economics, supplementary issue, pp. 19-46.
29. Maddison, A. (ed.) (1995) Monitoring the World Economy, Paris: OECD.
30. Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D. and Weil, D. N. (1992) 'A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2): 407-37.
31. McMichael, P. (2000) Development and Social Change: a Global Perspective, 2nd edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
32. Morgenstern, O. (1965) Über die Genauigkeit wirtschaftlicher Beobachtungen, 2nd edition, Wien and Würzburg: Physica-Verlag.
33. Moulton, B. R. (2001) 'The Expanding Role of Hedonic Methods in the Official Statistics of the United States', mimeo: Bureau of Economic Analysis.
34. Moulton, B. R. and Seskin, E. P. (2003) 'Preview of the 2003 Comprehensive Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts. Changes in Definitions and Classifications', Survey of Current Business, June, 17-34.
35. Moulton, B. R. and Smedley K. E. (1995) 'A Comparison of Estimators for Elementary Aggregates in the CPI', Paper presented at the Western Economic Association International Conference, San Diego, CA, July 7.
36. Scarpetta, S., Bassanini, A., Pilat, D. and Schreyer, P. (2000) 'Economic Growth in the OECD Area: Recent Trends at the Aggregate and Sectoral Level', OECD Economics Department Working Paper No. 248.
37. Schreyer, P. (2001) 'Information and Communication Technology and the Measurement of Volume Output and Final Demand - a Five-country Study', Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 10(5): 339-76.
38. Schuurman, F. (ed.) Globalisation and Development Studies: Challenges for the 21st Century, Amsterdam: Sage.
39. Seskin, E. P. (1999) 'Improved Estimates of the National Income and Product Accounts for 1959-98: Results of the Comprehensive Revision', Survey of Current Business, December, 15-43.
40. Solow, R. M. (1957) 'Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function', Review of Economics and Statistics, 39(3): 312-20.
41. Stewart, K. J. and Reed, S. B. (1999) 'Consumer Price Index Research Series Using Current Methods, 1978-98', Monthly Labor Review, June, 29-38.
42. Stone, R. (1947) 'Functions and Criteria of a System of Social Accounting', Income and Wealth, Series I, 1-74.
43. Stone, R. (1951) 'Definitions and Measurement of the National Income and Related Tools', in: Measurement of National Income and the Construction of Social Accounts, Studies and Reports on Statistical Methods, No. 7, United Nations, Geneva.
44. Summers, R. and Heston, A. (1988): 'A New Set of International Comparisons of Real Product and Price Levels: Estimates for 130 Countries', 1950-1985, Review of Income and Wealth, 34(1): 1-25.
45. Temple, J. (1999) 'The New Growth Evidence', Journal of Economic Literature, 37(1): 112-56.
46. Triplett, J. E. (1997) 'Measuring Consumption: the post-1973 Slowdown and the Research Issues', Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 97(3): 9-42.
47. Triplett, J. E. (2001a) 'Research on Price Index Measurement: Agendas for the Next Twenty Years. Comment', Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 27(3&4): 120-30.
48. Triplett, J. E. (2001b) 'Hedonic Indexes and Statistical Agencies, Revisited', Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 27(3&4): 131-53.
49. Triplett, J. E. and Bosworth, B. P. (2004) Productivity in the U.S. Services Sector. New Sources of Economic Growth, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
50. United Nations (1953) A System of National Accounts and Supporting Tables. Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 2, United Nations, New York.
51. United Nations (1968) A System of National Accounts. Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 2, Rev. 3, United Nations, New York.
52. Vanhoudt, P. and Onorante, L. (2001) 'Measuring Economic Growth and the New Economy', EIB Papers, 6(1): 63-83.
53. Wade, R. H. (2004) 'Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality?', World Development, 32(4): 567-89.
54. Ward, M. (2004) Quantifying the World. UN Ideas and Statistics, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
55. Wynne, M. A. and Rodriguez-Palenzuela, D. (2004) 'Measurement Bias in the HICP: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know?', Journal of Economic Surveys, 18(1): 79-112.