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LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

To Value Household Work

Grabowski, Niklas LU (2016) NEKH01 20161
Department of Economics
Abstract
The national accounts, and specifically GDP, are often taken as a measure of welfare and increased wellbeing in society. However, in reality these measures are not created for measuring welfare, and even in measuring productions there are often significant problems.
Furthermore, problems arise when we try to compare national accounts between countries, or between different periods. During the decade I looked at, labour force participation increased with close to 6 points in total for Germany, while the corresponding number for Sweden was 1 point.
This thesis aims to look at exclusion of household production from the national accounts. My purpose was to look at how large household production is in relation to GDP and NNI, and how growth... (More)
The national accounts, and specifically GDP, are often taken as a measure of welfare and increased wellbeing in society. However, in reality these measures are not created for measuring welfare, and even in measuring productions there are often significant problems.
Furthermore, problems arise when we try to compare national accounts between countries, or between different periods. During the decade I looked at, labour force participation increased with close to 6 points in total for Germany, while the corresponding number for Sweden was 1 point.
This thesis aims to look at exclusion of household production from the national accounts. My purpose was to look at how large household production is in relation to GDP and NNI, and how growth during 2000-2010 in Sweden, and 2002-2012 in Germany, change when we add imputed numbers for household production.
The results I find are, that for my most conservative estimate household production made up around 20 % of GDP for Germany, while for my largest estimates it made up around 49-60 % of German GDP, and around 40 % of Swedish GDP with NNI numbers on average being 10 % higher. In my conclusions, I state that it is possible, given the data present, that part of Germany’s increase in GDP and NNI can be explained by an increase in participation rate of the labour force, and constitutes a partial transfer of production from the household into the market, rather than being an increase in production. While at the same time, there are far fewer indications this is the case for Sweden. This due to that labour participation has remained largely unchanged, and while time spent on household production has decreased, it has done so far less than in Germany. However, any results must be interpreted with care, as estimates differ largely based on imputation method chosen. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Nationalräkenskaperna, och särskilt BNP, används idag ofta som ett mått på välfärd och välmående i samhället. Dock, i verkligheten är dessa mått inte ämnade att mäta välfärd och även när det gäller att mäta produktion finns det oftast stora problem.
Utöver detta uppträder det ofta problem när man ska jämföra nationalräkenskaperna mellan länder eller olika tidsperioder. Under den tidsperiod jag använde mig av, ökade deltagandet i arbetsmarknaden med nästan 6 procentenheter för Tyskland, medan motsvarande siffra för Sverige var kring 1 procentenhet.
Detta arbete syftar att undersöka hushållsproduktionen från nationalräkenskaperna. Mitt syfte var att undersöka hur stor hushållsproduktionen är i relation till BNP och NI, och hur tillväxten... (More)
Nationalräkenskaperna, och särskilt BNP, används idag ofta som ett mått på välfärd och välmående i samhället. Dock, i verkligheten är dessa mått inte ämnade att mäta välfärd och även när det gäller att mäta produktion finns det oftast stora problem.
Utöver detta uppträder det ofta problem när man ska jämföra nationalräkenskaperna mellan länder eller olika tidsperioder. Under den tidsperiod jag använde mig av, ökade deltagandet i arbetsmarknaden med nästan 6 procentenheter för Tyskland, medan motsvarande siffra för Sverige var kring 1 procentenhet.
Detta arbete syftar att undersöka hushållsproduktionen från nationalräkenskaperna. Mitt syfte var att undersöka hur stor hushållsproduktionen är i relation till BNP och NI, och hur tillväxten mellan 2000-2010 för Sverige och 2002-2012 för Tyskland påverkas när vi lägger till dessa värden.
Resultaten jag fann var att för min mest konservativa uppskattning motsvarade hushållsproduktion ungefär 20 % av Tysklands BNP, medan mina största uppskattningar landade kring 49-60 % av Tysklands BNP och kring 40 % för Sveriges BNP, medan NI i snitt var cirka 10 % högre. I min slutsats nämner jag, att givet datan jag har använt mig av, att en del av Tysklands tillväxt i BNP och NI möjligtvis kan förklaras genom det ökade arbetsmarknadsdeltagandet och att det åtminstone kan röra sig om en partiell transferirng från hushållsproduktion, snarare än en ren ökning av produktionen. Samtidigt fanns det färre indikationer att så var fallet för Sverige. Detta eftersom arbetsmarknadsdeltagandet var relativt konstant, trots att det ökade marginellt, och även om arbetstiden i hushållen minskade, så var det en mycket mindre minskning än den motsvarande minskning i Tyskland under samma period. Trots detta, måste all tolkning av resultaten göras försiktigt, eftersom uppskattningar starkt varierar beroende på vilken metod man använder sig av för att värdera hushållens produktion (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Grabowski, Niklas LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKH01 20161
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
GDP, National income, Household production, National accounts, Imputation
language
English
id
8880517
date added to LUP
2016-06-21 17:10:38
date last changed
2016-06-21 17:10:38
@misc{8880517,
  abstract     = {{The national accounts, and specifically GDP, are often taken as a measure of welfare and increased wellbeing in society. However, in reality these measures are not created for measuring welfare, and even in measuring productions there are often significant problems. 
Furthermore, problems arise when we try to compare national accounts between countries, or between different periods. During the decade I looked at, labour force participation increased with close to 6 points in total for Germany, while the corresponding number for Sweden was 1 point. 
This thesis aims to look at exclusion of household production from the national accounts. My purpose was to look at how large household production is in relation to GDP and NNI, and how growth during 2000-2010 in Sweden, and 2002-2012 in Germany, change when we add imputed numbers for household production. 
The results I find are, that for my most conservative estimate household production made up around 20 % of GDP for Germany, while for my largest estimates it made up around 49-60 % of German GDP, and around 40 % of Swedish GDP with NNI numbers on average being 10 % higher. In my conclusions, I state that it is possible, given the data present, that part of Germany’s increase in GDP and NNI can be explained by an increase in participation rate of the labour force, and constitutes a partial transfer of production from the household into the market, rather than being an increase in production. While at the same time, there are far fewer indications this is the case for Sweden. This due to that labour participation has remained largely unchanged, and while time spent on household production has decreased, it has done so far less than in Germany. However, any results must be interpreted with care, as estimates differ largely based on imputation method chosen.}},
  author       = {{Grabowski, Niklas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{To Value Household Work}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}