The Treatment Of Interest And Net Rents In The National Accounts Framework1

The contention in this paper is that the present method of treating interest and net rents as transfers rather than as payments for services provided creates problems in the measurement of production by industry and that the difficulties encountered in explaining the treatment of interest items in the different tables of the National Accounts are even more apparent when one views the National Accounts framework as an integrated reflection of economic reality. It is argued that the lending of money arises from the stretching out of the production and consumption process, and the interest charges constitute a charge for the administrative services and risk involved. This is somewhat analagous to the charges for hiring out real goods and services. A similar case is made for the treatment of rents with the exception of imputed net rent where it is contended that economic risk is incurred only when production is undertaken for sale and that there should be no entrepreneurial return where the production is for the use of the owner‐producer. It is suggested that an alternative treatment of interest and rents as payments for services is more realistic. Its adoption in the National Accounts would eliminate the need for imputations now made to account for the production of financial intermediaries, as well as the unconvincing explanations put forward for the present treatment of interest on consumer and public debt. Finally, it would serve to integrate the production accounts with the financial flows and the related financial structure.