Growth accounting is a set of theories used in economics to explain economic growth. U.S. Economic Calendar Economics at the Open Directory Project Economics textbooks on Wikibooks The Economists Economics A-Z Institutions and organizations Bureau of Labor Statistics - from the American Labor Department Center for Economic and Policy Research (USA) National Bureau of Economic Research (USA) - Economics material from the organization... Accumulated GDP growth for various countries. ...
The total national income in an economy may be modelled as being explained by various factors. In a simple model, these might be:
the total stock of capital (for example, buildings and machinery) available.
the size of the labour force
the technology available, for example inventions, production and management techniques
Here, an increase in national income must be explained by an increase in the capital available, an increase in the labour force, or an improvement in the technology used. Capital has a number of related meanings in economics, finance and accounting. ...
The levels of national income, the capital stock, and the size of the labour force can all be estimated through widely available economic statistics. A mathematical model can then be constructed to explain the level of national income in terms of labour, capital and a residual. jA change in the residual, total factor productivity, represents the change in national income that is not explained by changes in the level of inputs (capital and labour) used. This is normally taken as a measure of the level of technology employed, and is sometimes measured as the "Solow residual". This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
In Intangible Capital and EconomicGrowth (NBER Working Paper No. 11948), authors Carol Corrado, Charles Hulten, and Daniel Sichel find that the rapid expansion and application of technological knowledge in its many forms (including R and D, brand equity, and human competency) is a key feature of recent U.S. economicgrowth.
Accounting practice traditionally excludes investment in intangible knowledge capital, thus excluding, according to the authors' estimates, approximately $1 trillion from the conventionally measured output of the non-farm business sector by the late 1990s, and understating the business capital stock by $3.6 trillion.
It is also worth noting that the fraction of output growth per hour attributable to the old "bricks and mortar" forms of capital investment is very small, accounting for less that 8 percent of total growth in the period 1995-2003.