National Income Q6

Q.
a) Define National Income and discuss its uses. (5 marks)

b) Explain any two (2) methods of calculating national income and discuss the problems encountered in calculating the national income. (15 marks)

(20 marks, 2011 Q6)

A.
Like income of an individual, National Income is income of a nation. A definition is obtained from Economics Online, UK as below:

"National income is the total value a country’s final output of all new goods and services produced in one year."

Ref:
http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Managing_the_economy/National_income.html

However, it is difficult to calculate everyone's income in a population, so another approach is to calculate total expenditure of every transaction. This relationship is expressed in the national income identity, where the amount received as national income is identical to the amount spent as national expenditure, which is also identical to what is produced as national output. Throughout macroeconomics the terms income, output and expenditure are interchangeable.

What are the uses of National Income?

b) Methods of calculating national income.

Any transaction which adds value involves three elements – expenditure by purchasers, income received by sellers, and the value of the goods traded. For example, if a student purchases a textbook for £30, spending = £30, income to the bookseller = £30, and the value of the book = £30. All of the transactions in an economy can be looked at in this way, giving us three ways to measure national income.
There are three methods of calculating national income:
  1. The income method, which adds up all incomes received by the factors of production generated in the economy during a year. This includes wages from employment and self-employment, profits to firms, interest to lenders of capital and rents to owners of land.
  2. The output method, which is the combined value of the new and final output produced in all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, financial services, transport, leisure and agriculture.
  3. The expenditure method, which adds up all spending in the economy by households and firms on new and final goods and services by households and firms.
    An example of its calculation is provided here in a video by Khan Academy. A written synopsis is here.

What are the problems encountered in calculating national income?

Ref:
http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Managing_the_economy/National_income.html