When considering issues of measuring welfare beyond gross domestic product (GDP), a key ongoing, but unfinished, agenda concerns how to measure the outputs of goods and services which are "free at the point of delivery". Public services such as schools and health services are major examples of...

In recent years, the private sector has been recognized as a key engine of Africa's economic development. Yet, the most simple and fundamental question remains unanswered: how large is the African private sector? We present novel estimates of the size of the private sector in 50 African...

This article gives methodological guidance on how best to compare the share of profits in value-added across countries using national accounts. Such comparisons are often based on accounts for institutional sectors such as non-financial corporations. It turns out that these are less...