Since the creation of National Accounts during the Great Depression there have been calls to expand macroeconomic statistics to better account for economic growth, the sustainability of growth, and the effect of growth on economic well-being. This volume would be the latest in a long series of Studies in Income and Wealth and earlier NBER publications dating back to the 1930s that have played a key role in the development of the U.S. National Accounts and those of other nations. Work in this volume shows advances within a national accounts framework, and so contributes to other national and in ... More

Since the creation of National Accounts during the Great Depression there have been calls to expand macroeconomic statistics to better account for economic growth, the sustainability of growth, and the effect of growth on economic well-being. This volume would be the latest in a long series of Studies in Income and Wealth and earlier NBER publications dating back to the 1930s that have played a key role in the development of the U.S. National Accounts and those of other nations. Work in this volume shows advances within a national accounts framework, and so contributes to other national and international initiatives that aim at developing better indicators of material well-being and the quality of life. The papers in this volume address key gaps in our statistical coverage revealed by the recession and the period leading up to the recession, including the increasing share of income going to those at the top, that for many households resulted in disconnects between their personal experiences and the reported growth in official statistics like GDP and disposable personal income; the failure of many of the existing macroeconomic and financial statistics to provide a consistent and clear set of new “leading” financial indicators on the unsustainability of trends in saving, spending, debt, and housing and equity prices; and the lack of data on health care, the environment, education, and human capital and their increasing importance to the rate and sustainability of economic growth.