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National accounts, '''national account systems (NAS)''' (or more generally '''social accounts''') summarize economic activity for a nation (or other geographic area). They provide detailed underlying measures of such information. They also use Double-entry Accounting . By construction that makes the totals on both side of the account equal even though they each measure different characteristics. The accounts provide measures of National Income And Product , national Balance Sheet s (as to assets on one side of the account and liabilities and Wealth on the other), Capital and capital flows, external transaction accounts, and Input-output tables (Ruggles, 1987). The accounts are derived from Statistical Surveys designed to provide a systematic summary of aggregate national economic activity. DEVELOPMENT The original motivation for the development of national accounts and the systematic measurement of employment, was the need for accurate measures of aggregate economic activity. This was made more pressing by the Great Depression and as a basis for Keynesian Macroeconomic stabilisation policy and wartime economic planning. The first efforts to develop such measures were undertaken in the late 1920s and 1930s, notably by Colin Clark and Simon Kuznets . Richard Stone led later contributions. The first formal national accounts in the United States were in 1947 (Ruggles, 1987, p.377). MAIN COMPONENTS The main national accounts are: :National income and product accounts, which measure aggregate income in two ways ::production accounts which records the value of production (GDP), the income from production and the final expenditures on goods and services produced; ::income accounts, which show primary and secondary income transactions, final consumption expenditures and consumption of fixed capital. Net saving is the balancing item for these accounts; :Capital accounts, which record the net accumulation, as the result of transactions, of non-financial assets; and the financing, by way of saving and capital transfers, of the accumulation. Net lending/borrowing is the balancing item for these accounts; :Financial accounts, which show the net acquisition of financial assets and the net incurrence of liabilities. The balance on these accounts is the net change in financial position. :Balance sheets, which record the stock of assets, both financial and non-financial, and liabilities at a particular point in time. Net worth is the balance from the balance sheets. REFERENCES
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