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International WorkshopShenzhen, China

April 2011

GDP

Roundtable Discussions

Some sharing by :

Frederick W H HO

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National Accounting• Production : inputs and outputs

• Distribution of income arising from production (to: different producers, to: employees and entrepreneurs/investors)

• The formation of capital – basis of future production

• External relationship -- flow (inflow and outflow) of goods and services across boundaries (of territories/countries) -- flow of income and funds

• Etc.

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National Accounting• Production: “Value added” of the different industries: reflecting the

relative contributions of the different industries (“economic sectors”) -- agriculture, fisheries,…manufacturing, …

construction,...distributive trade, …, services..) to the economy

GDP = total of the “value added” of the different industries = Contributions attributed to the DOMESTIC ECONOMY (many of the goods and services produced by the domestic economy have direct and indirect “imported contents”)

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GDP by Production Approach and Income Approach

A+C+D=B

Value added = ( B ) –( A ) [production approach]

= ( C ) + ( D ) [income approach]

Value added of an industry = Sum of value added of all producing units in the industry GDP (at factor cost) = Sum of value added of all industries

Producing

Unit

Input (1) ：Intermediate consumption

Value of goods and services

consumed

Gross output (4)

(B) Value of products

Input (2):Labour

Input (3):Capital and entrepreneurship

(C)Return to labour:“Compensation of employees”

(D)Return to capital and entrepreneurship: “Gross operating surplus”

Physical flow

Value flow (i.e. money or equivalent)

(A)

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• Based on the the income approach,

we can see the situation of

income earned by employees

vs

income earned by entrepreneurs /investors

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Uses of the Gross Output (Goods and services produced by Producing Units)

intermediate use : outputs (goods and services) used by some other industries

final use (“final demand”) : outputs going to > households > government—for the production of government services > capital formation > export

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GDP by Final demand ApproachConsider only goods and services for “Final” Use

GDP = C + G + I + X M i.e. Sum of the Final Uses

LESS the Imported Contents [ We are unable to remove the imported contents

at the various stages of domestic production ]

M

C

G

I

X

C = Private consumption expenditure

G = Government consumption expenditure

I = Investment (Gross domestic fixed capital formation plus Changes in inventories)

X = Exports of goods and services

M = Imports of goods and services

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GDP by Final Demand Approach• Under this approach, we work backwards from the use of the goods (and services) produced to arrive at the GDP.

• We add up the values of all the final goods and services USED

and then remove the imported contents.

• We do the REMOVAL of IMPORTED CONTENTS at one go in the end as we can ONLY do so.

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In GDP by Final Demand approach: We only look at the products and services for final use;

otherwise there will be a lot of double counting

• From cotton to yarn ; and yarn to cloth; and cloth to shirt ----

• the yarn, if used by the cloth factory, is “intermediate goods”; and the cloth, if used by a local shirt factory, is “intermediate goods” too. IN NOT counting the intermediate goods, we will not incur double counting

• If the sales of spinning factory, weaving factory and garment factory were added together, the value of cotton would have been counted several times.

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GDP by Final Demand approach• For a piece of final product (or service), -- there are usually both direct and indirect “imported contents” --the value consist of “value added” by several industries• Consider the shirt purchased by a local consumer - -- cotton is spun into yarn, the yarn is woven into cloth, and the

cloth is finally sewn into a shirt. Thus for the shirt factory, it has not imported the cloth, but indirectly it has imported cotton

-- the plastic button may be made locally, but the plastic material is imported

--electricity is used in the several manufacturing processes, and also by the retailer who sells the shirt to the consumer. Electricity is generated by oil, which is imported. Oil is thus a common item of imported content in many final goods (and services).

--also, many producers have to use transport services (transporting the raw materials and finished goods) and vehicles use oil as fuel.

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GDP by Final Demand Approach

GDP = C + G + I + X M1632 = 1006 + 142 + 367 + 3167 3047>> For C, G, I, X

only “FINAL goods and services” are counted

>> The above are 2009 figures in HK$ billion.

M

C

G

I

X

C = Private consumption expenditure

G = Government consumption expenditure

I = Investment (Gross domestic fixed capital formation plus Changes in inventories)

X = Exports of goods and services

M = Imports of goods and services

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Total Final Demand

Total supply = Total Final Demand (4680) (4680) GDP + M = C + G + I + X 1632 + 3047 = 1006 + 142 + 367 + 3167

Ratio to GDP

An indication of the relative economic significance of that economic aggregate to the economy

Ratio of X to GDP is 193% X has both domestic contents and imported contents. It is not

exactly a “component” of GDP. Hence it is totally possible for the ratio to be bigger than 100%. And, we should not say that “the share of exports in GDP is xx %”)

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Tourism

• Tourists visit a territory and spend money on hotels, restaurants, shopping, transportations and tours.

• Considerable imported contents are in the goods and services consumed.

• Also, while we always talk about the “tourism industry”, it is not such a clear-cut industry. Some retailers and restaurants depend much on tourists’ expenditure but others may not.

• Again, it is more appropriate to refer to “ the ratio of tourist expenditure to GDP “ rather than “the share of tourist expenditure in GDP”

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Government Consumption

• A way of looking at Government Consumption Expenditure : The government produces services which are used ”collectively” by the

community, or, conceptually, we consider the services are consumed by the government

on behalf of all the citizens.

• AND

To distinguish PRODUCTION and CONSUMPTION of government services from

their FINANCING -- The government does not produce and market its services. It does not

make a “profit” even if there are “surpluses” in the Budget. Government gets money from taxes and other receipts from the citizens. It pays wages and buys materials needed in the course of performing its functions.

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Value added of Government :Government Consumption Expenditure

Value added = ( 4) - (1)

= (2) +(3) =(2) + 0 = (2) [[ Gross Operating Surplus is taken as zero]]

A method of “ Valuation of ‘Output’ by ‘Sum of Inputs’ is used, since the output is not a marketable commodity { (4) = (1)+(2)+(3) }

Government

(Producer of gov’t services)

Input (1) ：Intermediate

consumption e.g. electricity, stationery,

rental services Gross

output(4) Consumed by gov’t on behalf of all

residents

Input (2):Labour

Input (3):XCapital and entrepreneurship

Physical flow

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National Accounting in

an Integrated Economic Statistics Programme

National Accounting is -- the foundation and the core component of an Integrated Economic Statistics Programme for the National Statistical System

It enables an overall view of the entire economy.

It also facilitates improvement in the coherence of the National Statistical System – checking of consistency across different sectors of economic statistics, co-ordination of various statistical standards

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Uses of national accounting statistics

• Economic Analysis

– (a) Enabling macro-economic and micro-economic analysis

– (b) Monitoring the performance of the overall economy and the various sectors

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Uses of national accounting statistics

• Macro-level policy analysis, formulation and decision

– (a) Sustaining the competitiveness of

successful industries– (b) Identifying and assisting new industries– (c) Demand and supply balances – (d) Balance between consumption and investment– (e) Reliance on imports in production and

consumption and capital formation

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Uses of national accounting statistics

• Action programme planning for sectoral developments

– (a) tracking the developments in specific economic sectors and determining action strategies for their developments

– (b) sectoral productivity studies

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Uses of national accounting statistics

• Business

– (a) identify profitable lines of business– (b) discover appropriate mix of products– (c) find optimum cost structure– (d) make investment decisions