Introduction to the SNA, advanced Lesson 2

Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction to the SNA, advanced

Lesson 2

Institutional sectors

1


Background

• In order to collect economic data from businesses, it is necessary to define the business units to which the data relate– an enterprise is the “financing unit “– an establishment is the “producing unit”

• Can also have units relating to government and households

2


Background (cont’d)

• Different types of units interact by engaging in transactions– 2 units involved in a transaction– for example, an enterprise selling to a household

• Collectively, the SNA refers to these units as “transactors”• The SNA allocates transactors to institutional sector based on

their characteristics

3


What is an institutional unit?

• The 2008 SNA defines an institutional unit asan economic entity that is capable, in its own right, of owning assets, incurring liabilities and engaging in economic activities and in transactions with other entities

• In practice, this definition includes large businesses, unincorporated businesses, government units and households because each of them can own assets and undertake transactions with other businesses

• Examples include Shell Oil, the small roadside food stall, the government agency that issues permits for people wishing to run a taxi service and your own household

4


Categories of units

Institutional units can be considered as being one of three broad types:

(a)corporations, which are businesses established under a country’s laws,

(b)government, which includes all government activities other than those in which the unit is producing or selling goods and services at market prices, and

(c)households, which consist of persons, or groups of persons, who live together.

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Units and types of activity

• Corporations undertake production and/or accumulation• General government units may undertake production and/or

consumption and/or accumulation• All households undertake consumption on their own behalf• Non-profit institutions (NPIs) are a special type of unit, which

can be part of corporations or of government or they may serve households– most NPIs are part of government or serve households– classifying an NPI to institutional sector depends on who

owns, controls and finances the NPI

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Corporations, general government• Corporations are businesses that are incorporated in their

country of operation in accordance with the company law in that country– they aim to run at a profit– the owners of an incorporated business have their liability

for losses limited in accordance with company law– corporations can be either private or public sector– some unincorporated businesses may be considered to be

corporations (called “quasi-corporations”) if they meet certain criteria

• Government units are not intended to run at a profit– activities are financed mainly from tax revenue

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Households

• A household is a group of persons who share the same living accommodation, who pool some, or all, of their income and wealth and who consume certain types of goods and services collectively, mainly housing and food– there are also other types of households (“institutional

households”) that comprise groups of persons staying in hospitals, retirement homes, convents, prisons, etc

• Some households run businesses whose accounts are mixed in with those of the household

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Residence

• The concept of residence is very important in the national accounts for two reasons– GDP is defined in terms of the production of all resident

producers– exports and imports of goods and services are part of the

interaction between a country and other countries (i.e. the “rest of the world”) and so it is necessary to identify which transactors belong to which country

• The concept of residence is based on the “centre of predominant economic interest” of a unit

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Special types of units

• Some large corporations have a complicated structure, with one or more of head offices, holding companies, subsidiaries and so-called special purpose entities being examples

• Special purpose entities often have no employees and no assets– they include units such as captive financial institutions (i.e.

a unit holding the assets of a corporation), artificial subsidiaries of corporations (which provide services to the parent) and special purpose units of general government (e.g. a unit that borrows funds on behalf of a government)

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Institutional sector classification

• The 2008 SNA classification for institutional sectors actually defines five institutional sectors for the domestic economy

• There is a sixth (the Rest of the world) for foreign residents who interact with the transactors resident in the domestic economy via purchasing exports and by providing imports, or through financial transactions

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Institutional sector classification (continued)

• The five institutional sectors to which resident units can be allocated are:

(1) Non-financial corporations (i.e. corporations that are not classified as “financial corporations”)

(2) Financial corporations(3) General government(4) Households(5) Non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs)

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Institutional sector classification (continued)

• Households have also been split into two sectors (households and NPISHs) at the highest level of the institutional sector classification– NPISHs are defined by the SNA as non-market NPIs that

are not controlled by government

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Institutional sub-sectors – Non-financial corporations

• Each of the five resident institutional sectors contains a finer dissection of units into sub-sectors

• For the corporations sector, the full classification is:Non-financial corporationsNon-financial corporations – non-profit institutions (NPIs)Non-financial corporations – for-profit institutions (FPIs)Public non-financial corporationsPublic non-financial corporations – NPIsPublic non-financial corporations – FPIsNational private non-financial corporationsNational private non-financial corporations – NPIsNational private non-financial corporations – FPIsForeign controlled non-financial corporationsForeign controlled non-financial corporations – NPIsForeign controlled non-financial corporations – FPIs

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Institutional sub-sectors – Financial corporations

• Nine sub-sectors are identified within the financial corporations sector:1. Central bank2. Deposit-taking corporations, except the central bank3. Money market funds4. Non-money market investment funds5. Other financial intermediaries, except insurance corporations and

pension funds6. Financial auxiliaries7. Captive financial institutions and money lenders8. Insurance corporations9. Pension funds

• If necessary, each can be further split in the same way as corporations (i.e. Non-profit institution or For-profit institution; and Public or Private national or Private foreign-controlled)

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Institutional sub-sectors – Government

• Countries have different systems of government, ranging from a single level covering the whole country to more complicated models of national/state/local government

• The 2008 SNA caters for different governmental structures:o Central government (including Social security funds)o State government (including Social security funds)o Local government (including Social security funds)

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Institutional sub-sectors – Government

• An alternative is where social security is at a single levelo Central governmento State governmento Local governmento Social security funds• If there are less than 3 levels of government then the

redundant level(s) is omitted (e.g. State government)

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Institutional sub-sectors – Households

• Households can be classified into one of four sub-sectors, with one being further sub-divided into 3 more categories

• Employers• Own-account workers• Employees• Recipients of property and transfer incomeso Recipients of property incomeo Recipients of pensionso Recipients of other transfers

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Institutional sub-sectors – Households

• Households are allocated to sub-sectors based on which of the four major categories of income is largest for the household as a whole– it may not account for more than half of total household

income

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Institutional sub-sectors – NPISHs

• The SNA provides for NPISHs to be sub-sectored into national private and foreign-controlled components

• In practice, many countries have difficulty separately identifying NPISHs to allocate them to a separate NPISH sector and so they are often included as part of the household sector

• NPISH final expenditures can be classified by function according to the Classification of the purposes of non-profit institutions serving households (COPNI)– COPNI should be applied selectively in each country by

allocating expenditures only to the most important categories for the country concerned

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References

• System of National Accounts, 2008• Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA),

2008

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Documents

Introduction to the SNA, advanced Lesson 2