VOLUME XVII
WINTER 2009

TRAVELLING ACROSS THE COSMOS: WEALTH CREATION MEASUREMENT AND THE HISTORICAL SERIES OF SPANISH GDP
 
JORDI MALUQUER DE MOTES
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
 
This paper provides an answer to Leandro Prados de la Escosura’s response to my estimation of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product time series (Revista de Economía Aplicada, n.º 49, 2009, pp. 5-45). It proves that the CPI is the best available deflator for rebuilding the GDP before the CNE because it correctly measures year-to-year changes of the general price level. It employs a linking procedure of the historical series of national accounts that is consistent with the newer SCN-93 and SEC-95 national accounts systems and which coincides with the systems used by all international economic organizations. The updating of the accounting system, with the inclusion of the non-observed economy and of own-account production of goods by households, has made previous estimations obsolete and requires the use of second generation estimations, with the inevitable re-adaptation of the relative levels of different economies.
 
Key words: Gross Domestic Product, Economic Growth, Historical National Accounts.
JEL classification: E01, N1, N30, O11, O47.

TO DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER