The United Kingdom Experience (I)

The presentation of the estimates of a set of interrelated macro-economic aggregates within the framework of a system of accounts is not only a means of ensuring that the definitions of these aggregates are mutually consistent. It also enables one to ascertain the pattern of economic activity for the particular community and period to which these estimates refer. The best way of displaying this pattern is to express, within the chosen accounting framework, each one of the estimates in per cent of one of them. Thus, for instance, the pattern of economic activity in the United Kingdom in 1980 will look as shown in table 4.1 if we express all entries in the system of national and domestic accounts shown in section 1.19 in per cent of national disposable income.