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Why the Flow of Funds Don’t Explain the Flow of Funds: Sectoral Balances, Balance Sheets, and the Accumulation Fallacy

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  • Roth, Steve

Abstract

This paper highlights and unpacks a little-known reality about the Financial Accounts of the United States: the Flows matrix on page 1 of the Federal Reserve’s quarterly Z.1 report does not explain period-to-period changes in the Levels matrix on page 3. The same is true of the sectoral Flow and Levels tables underlying those matrixes. Nor do those tables provide balance-sheet-complete accounting of household or national wealth accumulation. Measures of net saving/investment/capital formation and accumulation, and national wealth accumulation, diverge by tens of trillions of dollars. The discrepancy is explained and resolved by assembling a balance-sheet-complete empirical derivation of comprehensive U.S. “Haig-Simons” income, based on the Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts. The comprehensive measure is 23% higher than national accounts’ “primary” income. Relationships to the Piketty/Saez/Zucman Distributional National Accounts (DINAs) are discussed, along with implications for economic theory and empirical modeling, both mainstream and heterodox/Post-Keynesian.

Suggested Citation

  • Roth, Steve, 2021. "Why the Flow of Funds Don’t Explain the Flow of Funds: Sectoral Balances, Balance Sheets, and the Accumulation Fallacy," MPRA Paper 109976, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:109976
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Facundo Alvaredo & Bertrand Garbinti & Thomas Piketty, 2017. "On the Share of Inheritance in Aggregate Wealth: Europe and the USA, 1900–2010," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(334), pages 239-260, April.
    2. Thomas I. Palley, 2017. "Inequality and growth in neo-Kaleckian and Cambridge growth theory," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 146-169, April.
    3. Kotlikoff, Laurence J & Summers, Lawrence H, 1981. "The Role of Intergenerational Transfers in Aggregate Capital Accumulation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 706-732, August.
    4. Facundo Alvaredo & Bertrand Garbinti & Thomas Piketty, 2017. "On the Share of Inheritance in Aggregate Wealth: Europe and the USA, 1900–2010," Post-Print halshs-01509650, HAL.
    5. Jacob Robbins, 2019. "Capital Gains and the Distribution of Income in the United States," 2019 Meeting Papers 202, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Stefan Ederer & Miriam Rehm, 2020. "Will wealth become more concentrated in Europe? Evidence from a calibrated Post-Keynesian model," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 44(1), pages 55-72.
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    Cited by:

    1. Roth, Steve, 2021. "Spending by Bottom-80% U.S. Households Is Persistently Greater than Income. What Funds the Deficit?," MPRA Paper 110670, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution

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