IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v38y1982i2p181-196.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The overstated economy: Implications of positive public economics for national accounting

Author

Listed:
  • Z. Spindler

Abstract

Current national income accounting, which is based on the ‘comprehensive production concept’, is criticized on the basis of the ‘modern transfer’ view of government activity, which is based on a positive theory of bureaucracy and representative government, and is shown as ‘overstating’ the size of the national economy. Such mismeasurement inevitably leads to misunderstanding the macroeconomic effects of nationalization, redistribution and stabilization policies. An alternative concept, the ‘restricted market production concept’, is shown as providing a consistent and economically meaningful measurement of the size of the national economy and of the relevant effects of various government policies. qu]The underlying assumption is that [government] services are worth their costs, i.e., that they are produced and supplied after a proper balancing by the authorities (or the electorate itself on given occasions) of their social advantages and social cost. [A footnote continues!] This assumption may be correct in societies that are well governed but would be incorrect in those that are not. Paul Studinsk; The Income of Nations, 1961 (bracketed words added) Copyright Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1982

Suggested Citation

  • Z. Spindler, 1982. "The overstated economy: Implications of positive public economics for national accounting," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 181-196, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:38:y:1982:i:2:p:181-196
    DOI: 10.1007/BF00127719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF00127719
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF00127719?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sawers, Larry & Wachtel, Howard M, 1975. "Theory of the State, Government Tax and Purchasing Policy, and Income Distribution," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 21(1), pages 111-124, March.
    2. William D. Nordhaus & James Tobin, 1973. "Is Growth Obsolete?," NBER Chapters, in: The Measurement of Economic and Social Performance, pages 509-564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Robert Deacon, 1979. "The expenditure effects of alternative public supply institutions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 381-397, September.
    4. Frey, Bruno S, 1970. "Models of Perfect Competition and Pure Democracy," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 736-755.
    5. Larry Sawers & Howard M. Wachtel, 1975. "Theory Of The State, Government Tax And Purchasing Policy, And Income Distribution," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 21(1), pages 111-124, March.
    6. Thomas McGuire & Michael Coiner & Larry Spancake, 1979. "Budget-maximizing agencies and efficiency in government," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 333-357, September.
    7. Terry L. Anderson & Peter J. Hill, 1981. "Establishing Property Rights in Energy: Efficient vs. Inefficient Processes," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 1(1), pages 87-105, Spring.
    8. Simon Kuznets & Lillian Epstein & Elizabeth Jenks, 1946. "National Income and Its Composition, 1919-1938, Volume II," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kuzn41-3, May.
    9. Krueger, Anne O, 1974. "The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(3), pages 291-303, June.
    10. Francesco Forte & James M. Buchanan, 1961. "The Evaluation of Public Services," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69, pages 107-107.
    11. Bruno S. Frey, 1970. "Models Of Perfect Competition And Pure Democracy," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 736-755, November.
    12. A. Marin, 1978. "National Income, Welfare, And The Environment," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 24(4), pages 415-428, December.
    13. McGuire, Martin C & Aaron, Henry J, 1969. "Efficiency and Equity in the Optimal Supply of a Public Good," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(1), pages 31-39, February.
    14. Romans, J Thomas, 1977. "Welfare Economics and the Measurement of NNP," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 23(3), pages 279-290, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Landau, 1985. "Government expenditure and economic growth in the developed countries: 1952–76," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 459-477, January.

    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. John Muellbauer, 2019. "The Political Economy of Price Indices," Cyprus Economic Policy Review, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, vol. 13(1), pages 35-56, June.
    2. Jorge Martínez-Vázquez & Violeta Vulovic & Blanca Moreno Dodson, 2012. "The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Policies on Income Distribution: Evidence from a Large Panel of Countries," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 200(1), pages 95-130, March.
    3. Vos R., 1982. "Access to basic services and the public expenditure incidence, Ecuador 1970-1980: the distribution of public services in rural infrastructure, education and health," ILO Working Papers 992370503402676, International Labour Organization.
    4. Ritschl, Albrecht & Sarferaz, Samad & Uebele, Martin, 2008. "The U.S. business cycle, 1867-1995: dynamic factor analysis vs. reconstructed national accounts," Economic History Working Papers 22305, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. V. K. Shrotryia & Shashank Vikram Pratap Singh, 2020. "Measuring Progress Beyond GDP: A Theoretical Perspective," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 6(2), pages 143-165, November.
    6. Rohman, Ibrahim Kholilul & Bohlin, Erik, 2011. "Towards the alternative measurement: Discovering the relationships between technology adoption and quality of life in Indonesia," 22nd European Regional ITS Conference, Budapest 2011: Innovative ICT Applications - Emerging Regulatory, Economic and Policy Issues 52206, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Blankart, Charles B., 1975. "Neuere Ansätze zur Erklärung des Wachstums der Staatsausgaben: Ein interpretierender Überblick," Discussion Papers, Series I 67, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    8. Stanley L. Engerman, 1997. "The Standard of Living Debate in International Perspective: Measures and Indicators," NBER Chapters, in: Health and Welfare during Industrialization, pages 17-46, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Richard H. Steckel & Roderick Floud, 1997. "Introduction to "Health and Welfare during Industrialization"," NBER Chapters, in: Health and Welfare during Industrialization, pages 1-16, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Moshe Syrquin, 2016. "A Review Essay on GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History by Diane Coyle," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 573-588, June.
    11. repec:ilo:ilowps:237050 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Bos, Frits, 2011. "Three centuries of macro-economic statistics," MPRA Paper 35391, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Mitja Stefancic & Silvio Goglio & Ivana Catturani, 2019. "Democratic Governance Mechanisms in Cooperative Banks: A Reassessment," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 8(1), pages 22-41.
    14. Tan Ngoc Vu & Duc Hong Vo & Michael McAleer, 2019. "Rent seeking for export licenses: Application to the Vietnam rice market," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2019-13, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    15. Daniel Ştefan Armeanu & Georgeta Vintilă & Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, 2017. "Empirical Study towards the Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in EU-28 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Aaron Soans & Masato Abe, 2015. "Bribery, Corruption and Bureaucratic Hassle: Evidence from Myanmar," ARTNeT Working Papers 152, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    17. Hamilton, Kirk & Ley, Eduardo, 2010. "Measuring National Income and Growth in Resource-Rich, Income-Poor Countries," World Bank - Economic Premise, The World Bank, issue 28, pages 1-7, August.
    18. Eloi Laurent & Jean Jouzel, 2018. "The Well-being Transition: Measuring what counts to protect what matters," Sciences Po publications 35, Sciences Po.
    19. Jongmoo Jay Choi & Hoje Jo & Jimi Kim & Moo Sung Kim, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 931-954, December.
    20. Weck-Hannemann, Hannelore, 1989. "Protectionism in direct democracy," Discussion Papers, Series II 79, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    21. Wang, Li & Menkhoff, Lukas & Schröder, Michael & Xu, Xian, 2019. "Politicians’ promotion incentives and bank risk exposure in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 63-94.

    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:kap:pubcho:v:38:y:1982:i:2:p:181-196. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.