In this paper, we try to understand whether measures of GDP per capita taken from the national accounts or measures of mean income or consumption derived from household surveys better proxy for true income per capita. We propose a data-driven method to assess the relative quality of GDP per...

This paper proves that the current definitions of GDP are the result of assuming three zeros: depreciation, interest and profit. Such measures may report exaggerate positive income, even though the true income is negative. This paper supports Choi's (2009) finding that Keynes' measure of income...

We document that aggregate accounting earnings growth is an incrementally significant leading indicator of growth in nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Professional macro forecasters, however, do not fully incorporate the predictive content embedded in publicly available accounting earnings...

The International Comparisons Program (ICP) run by the World Bank compares the purchasing power of currencies and real income across countries. Using a unique data set consisting of over 600,000 ICP price quotes drawn from nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, we consider a number of ways...

The purpose of our paper is to briefly assess the role of GDP in measuring growth and welfare or in getting insight into the state of an economy. In this view, we propose a synthetic theoretical and historical review of national accounting, emphasizing the most important ideological...

“Free” consumer entertainment and information from the Internet, largely supported by advertising revenues, has had a major impact on consumer behavior. Some economists believe that measured gross domestic product (GDP) growth since 2000 is too low because it excludes online entertainment...

It is common for comparisons to be made of output growth and inflation across groups of countries, yet such comparisons can result in inconsistencies. We address two problems: (i) how to measure aggregate real output and inflation for groups of countries and (ii) how to construct measures of...

This paper considers the effects of inaccurate real-time output data on fiscal policy, both with respect to budgetary planning and fiscal surveillance. As newer and better information becomes available, output data available in real time get revised and are likely to conflict with final figures...

This paper uses a gravity model of migration to analyze how income differentials affect the flow of immigrants into U.S. states using annual data from the American Community Survey. We add to existing literature by decomposing income differentials into short- and long-term components and by...

The article criticizes the recent Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report arguing that the suggestion of developing a series of indicators that would complement the traditional GDP will in fact end up in confirming the centrality of the GDP, which would remain the central theoretical reference point as...