Gross output

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Gross output is an economic concept used in national accounts such as the United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA) and the US National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA). It is equal to the value of net output or GDP (also known as gross value added) plus intermediate consumption.

Gross output represents, roughly speaking, the total value of sales by producing enterprises in an accounting period (e.g. a quarter or a year), before subtracting the value of intermediate goods used up in production. This description is not quite accurate though, among other things because flows relating to government services and households are also included.

To obtain a measure of gross value added or Net output, the value of intermediate goods and services must be subtracted from gross output. Net value added is obtained by additionally subtracting consumption of fixed capital (depreciation).

The statistical definition of gross output is dependent upon the definition of production applied. Typically some economic flows and activities are excluded from coverage in calculating the value of gross output, on the ground that they are unrelated to production in the domestic economy. These include foreign transactions, property income, transfers, land sales, and various government disbursements, unpaid housework and voluntary work. On the other hand, items are included which some economists would regard as spurious, such as the imputed rental value of owner-occupied housing (this is the average rents, at market rates, which owners of residential housing would receive if they rented out the housing they occupy).

In the UNSNA standard "product account", gross output is the largest aggregate, and it is shown how GDP is derived from it via subtracting intermediate consumption. However, in the American NIPA system, no annual totals for gross output and intermediate consumption are shown, the focus being on GDP and its components only - gross output and intermediate consumption are cited only in the input-output tables compiled for intermittent years. Thus, to find annual data for gross output and intermediate consumption of the United States, one needs to refer to UNSNA data sets.

See also

• GDP
• Intermediate consumption
• Net output
• United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA)
• National accounts

References