The Future of the National Accounts

This paper investigates the future of the national accounts in view of four trends: globalisation, regionalisation like the EU (regional blocks), automation and more market-oriented government. National accounts statistics will continue their role as a central overview statistic on national economies. It will become more standardized with respect to concepts, data quality and range of statistics published. However, links to current policy issues (e.g. environment, social security, health care, human capital) and specific data needs should be improved. National accounts statistics should also be made more transparant and attractive. Research is in particular required on the use and misuse of national accounts statistics and on improving compilation methods