Measuring the Wealth of Nations

The Political Economy of National Accounts
Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-521-56479-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 611 g

This book provides an alternative foundation for the measurement of the production of nations, and applies it to the US economy for the postwar period. The patterns which result are significantly different from those derived within conventional systems of national accounts. Conventional national accounts seriously distort basic economic aggregates, because they classify military, bureaucratic and financial activities as creation of new wealth, when in fact they should be classified as forms of social consumption which, like personal consumption, actually use up social wealth in the performance of their functions. The difference between the two approaches has an impact not only on basic aggregate economic measures, but also on the very understanding of the observed patterns of growth and stagnation. In a world of burgeoning militaries, bureaucracies, and sales forces, such matters can assume great importance at the levels of both theory and policy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shaikh, Anwar M.

Tonak, E. Ahmet

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Wirtschaftstheorie, Wirtschaftsphilosophie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Makroökonomie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. The basic theoretical foundations; 3. Marxian categories and national accounts: money value flows; 4. Marxian categories and national accounts: labor value calculations; 5. Empirical estimates of Marxian categories; 6. A critical analysis of previous empirical studies; 7. Summary and conclusions.