Measure up: A Better Way to Calculate GDP

Thomas Alexander, Claudia Dziobek, Marco Marini, Eric Metreau and Michael Stanger

No 2017/002, IMF Staff Discussion Notes from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: To derive real GDP, the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) recommends a technique called double deflation. Some countries use single deflation techniques, which fail to capture important relative price changes and introduce estimation errors in official GDP growth. We simulate the effects of single deflation to the GDP data of eight countries that use double deflation. We find that errors due to single deflation can be significant, but their magnitude and direction are not systematic over time and across countries. We conclude that countries still using single deflation should move to double deflation.

Keywords: SDN; single deflation; value; single-deflation estimate; GDP at constant prices; GDP deflator; G20 Data Gaps Initiative; single and double deflation; China; India; deflation measure; single-deflation method; output price; Deflation; Price indexes; Consumption; Commodity price fluctuations; Global (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19
Date: 2017-02-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=44598 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfsdn:2017/002

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Staff Discussion Notes from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi ().