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Long‐Lived Working Animals As Capital Assets

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  • Ball, Eldon
  • Soloveichik, Rachel
  • Mosheim, Roberto

Abstract

A recent review of ERS’s productivity accounts recommended that ERS treat dairy cows, breeding beef cows and other long‐lived working animals as capital assets (Shumway, et. al 2014). BEA was also given the same recommendation in the international guidelines for national accounts, System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008). In ERS’s farm accounts and BEA’s National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA’s), long‐lived working animals are currently treated as an inventory asset. This paper recalculates the farm accounts and NIPA’s when long‐lived working animals are re‐classified as a capital asset. We show that this reclassification raises farm output and GDP for every year – but the increase is larger for earlier years. As a result, real farm output growth and real GDP growth falls slightly when long‐lived working animals are capitalized. Total factor productivity (TFP) growth falls slightly from 1.42% per year to 1.38% per year when year when long‐lived working animals are capitalized.

Suggested Citation

  • Ball, Eldon & Soloveichik, Rachel & Mosheim, Roberto, 2015. "Long‐Lived Working Animals As Capital Assets," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205744, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea15:205744
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.205744
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Franklin M. Fisher, 1965. "Embodied Technical Change and the Existence of an Aggregate Capital Stock," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 32(4), pages 263-288.
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