1. Finance in Economic Growth: Eating the Family Cow
- Author:
- Peter Temin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- It is hard to fit finance into the measurement of national product and of economic growth, and similar problems bedevil efforts to include other intangible investments as well. I describe how our current accounts deal with these problems, and I argue that existing NIPA data fail to describe the future path of growth in our new economy because they lack output data on financial, human and social capital investments. They fail to show that the United States is consuming its capital stock now and will suffer later, rather like killing the family cow to have a steak dinner.
- Topic:
- Economics, Finance, Economic growth, and Macroeconomics
- Political Geography:
- United States