This is true for the private sector but doesn't address Kuznets's criticism
regarding government expenditures. They are considered final consumption
even though a large and growing component of them are, in Kuznets's view.
intermediate good and should be excluded from final consumption as such.


On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:18 AM, Max Sawicky <[email protected]> wrote:

> Regarding Bro. Walker's post on EconoSpeak, my understanding is that the
> intermediate goods component of GDP is that portion of goods produced but
> not consumed in production of 'final goods and services.' So I don't see
> any double-counting there.
>
> By contrast, the ambiguity of household capital and the relevance of
> uncounted, non-market amenities are well-taken.
>
> Across time, capital goods are certainly counted twice, initially as
> produced, subsequently as services rendered (embodied in final output). I'm
> not sure why this is a problem, seeing as how GDP is a measure of
> production. Something durable is productive over a prolonged period of time.
>
> I do see the common use of GDP as a progress indicator to be politically
> retrograde.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:14 AM, Max Sawicky <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> In my limited reading about the accounts, the premise is that they are a
>> measure of production over a given period of time, not progress or
>> well-being. As a measure of production, in recent years there has been some
>> effort to grapple with non-market amenities in the so-called 'green
>> accounts,' published as an addendum and not integrated into the official
>> Account.
>>
>> I'm of course aware of how often GDP is cited as an indicator of progress.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 9:28 PM, Tom Walker <[email protected]>wrote:
>>
>>> The last time I saw Jonathan Rowe was in October, 2010. I was on a
>>> writer's retreat at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California and Jonathan
>>> dropped by to borrow the pick-up truck. We got into one of those intense
>>> conversations you can only have with someone who has cared and thought long
>>> and deep about the things you have cared and thought long and deep about.
>>>
>>> Jonathan died on March 20th of the following year. On a Saturday he came
>>> home from the gym with a fever. The fever got worse so he went the
>>> hospital. Sunday morning he died.
>>>
>>> Last week, when I heard that Jonathan's book, *Our Common 
>>> Wealth<http://jonathanrowe.org/common-wealth>
>>> *, was out, I ordered a copy right away. Then I searched around on the
>>> web and pinched a galley proof so I wouldn't have to wait for the shipping.
>>> I was especially eager to read Chapter 12, "Accounting for Common Wealth"
>>> and Chapter 17, "Reallocating Time."
>>>
>>> Back in 1995 Jonathan was one of the co-authors of an *Atlantic Monthly*
>>>  article, "If the GDP is up, Why is America 
>>> Down,"<http://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/ecbig/gdp.htm> a
>>> great riff on the title of Richard Fariña's novel, *Been Down So Long,
>>> It Looks Like Up To Me*. I don't usually hoard old magazines – in fact,
>>> I rarely even buy magazines. But I still have that October 1995 issue of
>>> the *Atlantic*.
>>>
>>> Jonathan's article explained a lot of what's wrong with the economy and
>>> what's wrong with economics: "Once you start asking 'what' as well as 'how
>>> much' -- that is, about quality instead of just quantity -- the premise of
>>> the national accounts as an indicator of progress begins to disintegrate,
>>> and along with it much of the conventional economic reasoning on which
>>> those accounts are based."
>>>
>>> Read more...
>>> http://econospeak.blogspot.ca/2013/03/income-growth-and-double-counting.html#more
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> pen-l mailing list
>>> [email protected]
>>> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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>


-- 
Cheers,

Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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