VALUE AND INCOME IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AND ECONOMIC-THEORY

National accounting concepts of value and income differ from their eco nomic theoretic counterparts in two respects. Firstly, they are more p recise in order to give concrete guidelines for measurement, e.g. with respect to the concept of capital formation and the treatment of taxe s. Secondly, they are fundamentally different. Valuation in the nation al accounts is not forward-looking and not based on a notion of perfec t competition. Similarly, concepts of income in the national accounts are not measures of net return to wealth or welfare and they do not in tend to show income as a reward for some specific factors of productio n. The national accounts concepts of value and income are descriptive concepts that can only be well understood in view of the specific acco unting framework to which they belong.