The Use Of Computers In The National Accounts Of Norway

Both the yearly and the quarterly national accounts of Norway are derived with intensive use of electronic computers, punchcards and magnetic tapes. The introduction of the paper gives a short description of the Norwegian national accounting system. Four aspects are stressed. First, the accounts are built up by the production approach with the main purpose of, on the one hand, showing the domestic product at market prices by industry of origin and, on the other hand, showing a detailed breakdown by categories of expenditure. Second, the main part of the system consists of an input/output matrix of about 1700 commodities, 130 industries, and 150 final demand sectors. The input/output table is thus not made separately but is the main body of the national accounts. Third, this annual input/output table is used as a basis for estimating quarterly accounts. Fourth, an econometric model for analysing and forecasting developed by the Norwegian Central Bureau of Statistics is closely linked to the national accounts. The paper concentrates on how the computers and punchcards are used. It describes how all available information on the supply and use of commodities, prices, etc., is brought together. As far as possible punchcards from the basic statistics are taken over for further processing. As the end result each flow in the national accounts is represented by a punchcard. The paper discusses what has been gained by switching from worksheets to punchcards. There are advantages during the work and there are advantages of having the final results on punchcards. The final sections describe how the punched cards for the yearly accounts data are used as basis for preliminary estimates of quarterly accounts and also in a model for forecasting.