не 110 175 A553 1983 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. Price $1.50 38-392508 adeled Jagny FOREWORD This volume does more than bring up to date the material contained in the 1954 edition of National Income. Not only have new series and formulations been added, but the range of subject matter has been broadened to include our work in the field of income distribution. Here, too, we discuss recent progress on the national income accounts, requisites for further development, and our program for the future. This is our silver anniversary volume, since we undertook our first report in the national income field in 1932–33 in response to Senate Resolution 220, 72d Congress. It is in itself a mark of the progress that has been made in the comprehensive reporting on the national economy within a framework that has contributed much to knowledge and understanding. The use of national income accounts as a measure of America's economic position and progress is today commonplace. They are accepted as guides to business operations and Government policy determinations. The language of the accounts through wide use in our press has become a normal and understandable guide to the public. This is the fourth volume of a series initiated in 1947, but departs considerably from the format and content of its predecessors. It was considered neither desirable nor necessary to repeat in this volume what is still valid in the old. For those who wish the full detail of the methods and of the underlying concepts, copies of the 1954 edition are available for purchase or consultation from the usual sources. Our intent here transcends earlier objectives. While the full range of income and product data is carried forward and annotated, a major effort has been made to view in perspective the entire framework of analysis. To this latter end the net qualitative yield of a quarter of a century is surveyed. Persons with special interests, as in marketing, income distribution by size and areas, or overall trend analysis, will find within these covers the material needed for current appraisals and for the establishment of relationships over time. Those seeking fuller knowledge of sources and methods are here equipped with explanations of new series and all significant alterations of the old. For the many with strong preferences for those features of the accounts which would best repay prompt further development, the sections on the program ahead, and on the availability of statistical prerequisites, may bring constructive thinking to closer focus. We hope they will aid in the implementation of a program to meet our basic data needs more adequately. To further this objective, we have placed considerable stress upon the shortcomings of the basic statistical data and specifications of the requirements for improving the national income calculations. The extraordinary range of information which the Office of Business Economics must utilize regularly in its national income work makes us more than ordinarily conscious of our dependence upon the large number of cooperating public and private agencies and individuals that assist us so generously. This blanket expression of appreciation is supplemented by the acknowledgments which are included in this volume. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In presenting the results of our work on the national income in recent years, OBE brings into focus the achievements of its National Income Division and the contributions of those other divisions whose activities aid in preparation of these accounts. A general acknowledgment to the staff is thus appropriate. But, as is always the case in bringing efforts to fruition in the form of a book—which must derive from inspiration as well as from workmanship the responsibility for this volume fell largely upon certain individuals to whom special thanks are due. In addition to the principal authors listed on the title page, Charles F. Schwartz and George Jaszi, the contributors to the various parts and the particularized knowledge which they brought to bear are here recognized with appreciation. Lawrence Grose supervised most of the statistical work underlying the revision and expansion of series on the product side of the accounts. Harlow D. Osborne was in charge of the property income estimates and contributed much to Chapters 4, 5, and 6, concerned with the development of the official income and product work. Selma F. Goldsmith had responsibility for most of the income series and drafted Chapter 3 analyzing the distribution of family incomes by size. George M. Cobren supervised the preparation of the government accounts and drafted part of Chapter 8, on methodology. The laborious and detailed work that went into the approximately 100 tables in the Statistical Section, involving both updating the existing accounts and development of new avenues of information, was shared by numerous individuals. Those principally concerned are listed here alphabetically with their special areas of competence: Lillian P. Barnes-State and local government expenditures and receipts; Edward O. Bassett-consumer commodities, involving in particular the major task of incorporating data from the 1954 industrial censuses into the commodity flow estimates; Jacquelin Bauman-corporate profits; Carolyn G. Bernhard-consumer services; F. Beatrice Coleman-monthly personal income; Nancy F. Culbertson-foreign transactions; Jeannette M. Fitzwilliams— business and professional incomes; John A. Gorman-property in comes; Maurice Liebenberg-change in business inventories and corporate profits; Joseph Rosenthal-Federal Government expenditures and receipts; Mabel A. Smith-quarterly consumer expenditures; Robert C. Wasson-producers' durable equipment and capital consumption allowances; and Marilyn J. Young-employee compensation and monthly personal income. Loughlin F. McHugh, Chief of the National Economics Division, drafted Chapter 1 on economic growth and progress. Robert E. Graham, Jr., who is in charge of OBE's regional income work, drafted Chapter 2. The graphic presentations in the volume were executed by Anna M. Guindon and John A. Miskell. To those portions of the volume relating to consumption and investment OBE's Business Structure Division, Lawrence Bridge, Chief, made valuable contributions. A similar role was performed by the Balance of Payments Division, Walther Lederer, Chief, with respect to international transactions. Certain of the income and product series are prepared by agencies other than the Office of Business Economics: Farm income by the Agricultural Economics Division of the Department of Agriculture; direct estimates of personal saving by the Securities and Exchange Commission; and new construction activity by the Construction Industry Division, Business and Defense Services Administration, U. S. Department of Commerce, in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor. Also to be noted is the cooperation of the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Office of Business Economics in the collection of the underlying plant and equipment investment data. The statistics rest in a larger sense upon the work of the numerous Government and private agencies which provide the primary source data needed to construct the national income and product accounts. The cooperation of all these agencies is gratefully acknowledged. The progress recorded has been continuously aided by the Bureau of the Budget, not only by its direct support, but by its comprehensive recognition of our needs, which have been considered regularly in the development of the Government's statistical program. |