IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v63y2004i3p647-664.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Smithian National Product and the Wealth of African Nations

Author

Listed:
  • WILLIAM D. GERDES

Abstract

. Given the contemporary interest in growth, conventional measures of economic growth (changes in real GDP or real GDP per capita) may be less preferable than a measure that is more plutological by design. The plutological measure presented in this paper is that of Adam Smith (1776). While Smith's work pre‐dated formal national income accounting, there was a macroeconomic accounting scheme implicit in his theorizing on economic growth. This study articulates Adam Smith's concept of national product (referred to as Smithian national product, or SNP). It uses current output data to compute SNP for a set of six African countries, and examines the growth experience of these countries when using SNP as opposed to the more conventional GDP measure.

Suggested Citation

  • William D. Gerdes, 2004. "Smithian National Product and the Wealth of African Nations," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 647-664, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:63:y:2004:i:3:p:647-664
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2004.00308.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2004.00308.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2004.00308.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin L. Weitzman, 1976. "On the Welfare Significance of National Product in a Dynamic Economy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 90(1), pages 156-162.
    2. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    3. Stigler, George J, 1976. "The Successes and Failures of Professor Smith," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1199-1213, December.
    4. North, Douglass C., 1984. "Government and the Cost of Exchange in History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 255-264, June.
    5. Hartwick, John M., 1990. "Natural resources, national accounting and economic depreciation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 291-304, December.
    6. Frits Bos & Hugo Hollanders & Steven J. Keuning, 1994. "A Research And Development Module Supplementing The National Accounts," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 40(3), pages 273-286, September.
    7. M. Shahid Alam, 1989. "Anatomy of Corruption: An Approach to the Political Economy of Underdevelopment," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 441-456, October.
    8. Eisner, Robert, 1989. "The Total Incomes System of Accounts," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226196381, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lars Hultkrantz, 1992. "National account of timber and forest environmental resources in Sweden," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(3), pages 283-305, May.
    2. Thomas Aronsson, 2010. "Welfare Measurement, Involuntary Unemployment, And Heterogeneity," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 559-571, September.
    3. Nick Hanley & Louis Dupuy & Eoin McLaughlin, 2015. "Genuine Savings And Sustainability," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 779-806, September.
    4. Rubio, M. del Mar, 2004. "The capital gains from trade are not enough: evidence from the environmental accounts of Venezuela and Mexico," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 1175-1191, November.
    5. Thomas Aronsson & Karl-Gustaf Löfgren (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of Environmental Accounting," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12796.
    6. Toman, Michael & Pezzey, John C., 2002. "The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles," RFF Working Paper Series dp-02-03, Resources for the Future.
    7. Mardones, Cristian & del Rio, Ricardo, 2019. "Correction of Chilean GDP for natural capital depreciation and environmental degradation caused by copper mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 143-152.
    8. Butterfield, David W., 2003. "Resource depletion under uncertainty: implications for mine depreciation, Hartwick's Rule and national accounting," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 219-238, August.
    9. Gardner M. Brown, 2000. "Renewable Natural Resource Management and Use without Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(4), pages 875-914, December.
    10. Kirk Hamilton, 2003. "Sustaining Economic Welfare: Estimating Changes in Total and Per Capita Wealth," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 419-436, September.
    11. Dasgupta, Partha, 2000. "Valuation and Evaluation: Measuring the Quality of Life and Evaluating Public Policy," RFF Working Paper Series dp-00-24, Resources for the Future.
    12. Figueroa B., Eugenio & Orihuela R., Carlos & Calfucura T., Enrique, 2010. "Green accounting and sustainability of the Peruvian metal mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 156-167, September.
    13. Stefan Hellstrand & Kristian Skånberg & Lars Drake, 2010. "A biophysically anchored production function," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 573-596, August.
    14. Barbier , Edward B., 2020. "From Limits to Growth to Planetary Boundaries: The Evolution of Economic Views on Natural Resource Scarcity," 2020 Conference (64th), February 12-14, 2020, Perth, Western Australia 305259, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    15. Winter-Nelson, Alex, 1995. "Natural resources, national income, and economic growth in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1507-1519, September.
    16. Geir B. Asheim & Wolfgang Buchholz, 2004. "A General Approach to Welfare Measurement through National Income Accounting," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(2), pages 361-384, June.
    17. McConnell, Kenneth E. & Bockstael, Nancy E., 2006. "Valuing the Environment as a Factor of Production," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 14, pages 621-669, Elsevier.
    18. Luke McGrath & Stephen Hynes & John McHale, 2020. "Linking Sustainable Development Assessment in Ireland and the European Union with Economic Theory," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 51(2), pages 327-355.
    19. Edward B. Barbier, 2017. "Natural Capital and Wealth in the 21st Century," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(3), pages 391-405, June.
    20. Knapp, Keith C., 2006. "Recursive Sustainability: Intertemporal Efficiency and Equity," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21472, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:63:y:2004:i:3:p:647-664. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.